A MAN who “delivered” an electric shock to a woman with a stun device, and was also involved in two dangerous driving crimes, has been spared immediate prison.
Johnny Ian Noble, 22, was sentenced today (FRI) for three separate crimes committed in the Penrith area last year.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how, on May 7, he drove off with his girlfriend sat on the bonnet of a vehicle in a town supermarket car park. When he braked, she slid off but, the court heard, “no injury was caused”.
On July 31, amid a row with the same female, Noble activated a stun device in the street causing a flash and a crackling noise which she likened to a bolt of lightening. He then “delivered a shock with the Taser” to the back of another female at the scene, although there was “no lasting injury”.
Finally, on September 7, Noble led PCs on a high speed four-and-a-half-mile night-time driving chase, reaching up to 70mph in Penrith, flouting a raft of road rules and continuing to proceed despite three tyres being burst by a police stinger.
Noble admitted two counts of dangerous driving, charges of no insurance and no MoT and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
A psychiatrist had concluded Noble – a man with no previous convictions – was “clinically depressed” at the time, and that his mental health could deteriorate in custody. Recorder Kevin Grice suspended a 22-month jail term for two years, imposing rehabilitation, supervision, unpaid work and a driving ban, along with £200 compensation for the shock victim.
Recorder Grice said to Noble, of Grove Court, Penrith: “Having set out the (mental health) background, what you did in those three months was, as I think you now realise, not just foolish but criminal and quite unacceptable.”
