A man from South Ockendon has been jailed for shooting a car and trying to set it on fire.
Curtis Lodge, 30, of Buckles Lane, was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court after admitting possessing a loaded shotgun in a public place and attempted arson.
On Friday, 24 November last year, people in Tilbury heard gunshots coming from Albany Road.
Police rushed there and found a Mercedes A300 which had been damaged.
Lodge was seen running from the scene holding a shotgun and a car was witnessed speeding away.
Police found the car at Lakeside less than an hour later and arrested its owner, Lodge’s ex-girlfriend Abbie Woodham, 27, of Lime Close, South Ockendon.
She was interviewed and Lodge was found hiding at a hotel in Grays later that day.
He has been sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment for arson and possessing the weapon.
Woodham was charged with possessing a loaded shotgun in a public place and assisting an offender but found not guilty at the same hearing as Lodge.
He has never said why he did it.
Investigating officer PC Owen Clements, of Grays CID, said: “Lodge decided to take matters in his own hands by going armed with a loaded shotgun and then firing pellets into the car, after his attempts to set it alight were unsuccessful. It still remains unknown as to the reasons why he did this.
“The incident occurred in broad daylight with many bystanders who would have been terrified. I want to thank them all for their assistance.
“Their accounts, forensics evidence and report from a crime scene investigator with over 19 years’ experience, who confirmed the damage had been caused by a shotgun being fired, helped pinpoint him at the scene. Lodge will now have time to think about his actions in prison.”
Tags: Thurrock, South Ockendon, Tilbury
