Woman who used Range Rover as a weapon to kill e-bike rider jailed for 35 years

A woman who ‘hunted’ down an e-bike rider in her Range Rover and ran him over was told to ‘rot in hell, you skank’ as she was jailed for life.

Zoe Treadwell, 36, was convicted of the murder of 28-year-old Joey Johnstone on April 9 last year in Bournemouth, Dorset, as part of an ongoing feud.

She hit ‘ridiculous’ speeds of up to 75mph down residential streets in her bid to run the 28-year-old, who was riding an e-bike, and another rider, Danny Singleton, off the road.

Mr Johnstone suffered catastrophic head injuries, with multiple fractures to the skull and other bones in the crash, while Mr Singleton escaped without serious injury.

But Detective Inspector Mark Jenkins, of Dorset Police’s major crime investigation team, said Treadwell had mistaken Mr Johnstone for her former partner Joshua Lovell, with whom she had an ongoing feud.

He said when it emerged that Treadwell had targeted the wrong person, she recruited co-defendant Jonjay Harrison to make a second attempt on his life.

Treadwell was also found guilty of trying to kill Mr Lovell and causing grievous bodily harm with intent against Free Jenkins, who  had to have one of his legs amputated following in a second incident on May 1.

She was given a minimum term of 35 years at Winchester Crown Court.

Harrison, 25, was convicted of the same charges against Mr Lovell and Mr Jenkins in the May 1 incident. He also pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in a public place.

He was jailed for 32 years.

The sentences were greeted with cheers and applause from people in the public gallery with one woman shouting out: ‘May you rot in hell Zoe, you skank.’

Sophie Quinn, who has two children with Mr Johnstone as well as a child from a previous relationship, said in a victim impact statement read to the court that she was ‘heartbroken’ by his death.

She said: ‘On April 9 our lives changed for the worse, Joey innocently going out for a bike ride in the evening to never return home, my soulmate taken away from me forever.’

She added that she had suffered anxiety since her partner’s death and said: ‘Just to think I will never be able to hear his voice or see him, breaks my heart.’

His mother, Michelle Rush, said: ‘I never knew what true love was until I gave birth to my perfect son’ and added that he had grown into a ‘beautiful man with the biggest heart’.

Sentencing Treadwell, the Judge, Mr Justice Linden, said that the incident happened after Mr Johnstone had been ‘goading’ her by ‘cycling in circles’ outside her house and she had used the car as a ‘weapon’.

He said: ‘He was much-loved by his family, his death has had a devastating effect on them and the three children who have been left fatherless.

‘You have caused serious and lasting harm to them, no sentence this court can pass can console them for their loss.’

He added: ‘You were totally indifferent as to whether Joey Johnstone lived or died, you made no attempt to assist him or summon assistance for him.’

He said that Harrison had been described as ‘smiling and smiling’ during the pursuit and had been paid £1,000 for his involvement.

Alisdair Williamson KC, defending Treadwell, said that the incidents resulted from an ‘ongoing feud between two criminal gangs’ which she had been ‘dragged into’.

He added: ‘This was a woman in her own home who was under attack.’

He said that Treadwell, who had worked as a healthcare assistant and in security, had been suffering from PTSD, depression and anxiety and had also been diagnosed with ADHD.

Mr Williamson added that she had written to the court to express her ‘sincere sorrow for all that has happened’.

Nicholas Hagan KC, defending Harrison, said that he had made a ‘last-minute’ decision to collide with the e-bike and had not set out that evening with an intention to kill and he had ‘genuine remorse’ for the injuries he caused.

He said that the defendant had become involved in the feud after hearing about his co-defendant being ‘terrorised by a gang of others’.

Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, told the trial: ‘In the early hours of April 9 this year and in the afternoon of May 1, there occurred two horrific collisions, in each instance a car was driven deliberately and with shocking aggression into young men who were riding e-bikes.

‘The men have been pursued by the vehicle, chased around the streets of Bournemouth and then rammed by the vehicle. The consequences were, unsurprisingly, extremely severe.’

She said the Range Rover travelled at speeds averaging between 66mph and 75mph in pursuit of e-bikes ridden ‘flat out’ by Mr Johnstone and another man, Danny Singleton, who was not injured.

Ms Jones said that Mr Johnstone died of a ‘traumatic head injury’ in the April collision and the two victims of the May incident suffered a range of serious injuries.

She said that there had been a feud between Treadwell and the associates of Mr Lovell, with whom she had previously been in a relationship.

Ms Jones said: ‘Both collisions were engineered as a consequence of a long-running grudge or feud, call it what you will.’

She added: ‘They have sought to obliterate their enemies and the weapons with which they chose to do that were their cars.’

The prosecutor said that in the May incident, Harrison, in a Mercedes C180 car, pursued Mr Lovell and his pillion passenger, Mr Jenkins, on their Caofen F80 electric motorcycle, before colliding with them.

Ms Jones said: ‘His journey becomes a grim chase. There was no escape.’

She said that Mr Lovell suffered multiple rib fractures, a thoracic vertebrae fracture and a wound to his left thigh and groin, and Mr Jenkins had his left leg amputated above the knee.

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