Pensioner, 67, spared jail after knocking teenage boy, 16, who was harassing him off scooter with his Audi slams police for ‘letting him down’

• EXCLUSIVE: Michael Ashton avoids jail after hitting boy harassing him with car
• Mr Ashton, 67,  slammed police for doing nothing about anti-social behaviour

A pensioner who escaped a jail sentence for running over a teenager whose anti-social behaviour had made his life a misery has slammed police who failed to investigate – and forced him to take the law into his own hands.

Michael Ashton, 67, drove his Audi into the 16-year-old tearaway, knocking him off his scooter after chasing him away from his home following a campaign of intimidation by the boy.

But at his trial charged with dangerous driving, instead of jailing him, Judge Rupert Lowe slammed the police and Crown Prosecution Service for doing nothing to investigate Mr Ashton’s complaints about the boy’s anti-social behaviour.

Speaking for the first time after the end of a two-year ordeal that saw him given a suspended sentence Mr Ashton told MailOnline: ‘I was just doing what any other man would do, and that was to protect my family.

‘I was at my wits’ end over what was happening and decided to fight back. What my wife and I went through has taken its toll. It got so bad that we thought we would have to leave our home of 39 years.

‘I am glad that the judge saw that and spoke about how I had been let down by the police.

‘If they had listened to me, then this might not have happened.’

Pensioner Michael Ashton, 67, who escaped a jail sentence for running over a teenager whose anti-social behaviour had made his life a misery has slammed police who failed to investigate – and forced him to take the law into his own hands

Mr Ashton (pictured with wife Maureen, 72), from Cheltenham, Gloucester drove his Audi in the 16-year-old tearaway, knocking him off his scooter after chasing him away from his home following a campaign of intimidation by the boy

The ordeal for retired mechanic Mr Ashton and his 72-year-old wife Maureen from Cheltenham, Gloucester, began in October 2021 when they heard some youths in a neighbour’s garden.

When the couple asked them to go they were met with abuse and threats.

Mr Ashton said: ‘Our elderly neighbour was in hospital and these youths were just vandalising the garden and throwing paint around. I told them to stop and pick up the mess they had made, but they ignored us. There was no reasoning with them.

‘I wasn’t aggressive but told them to clean up the mess. One of them just said he would kill me.’

The couple thought the matter was over but days later the intimidation began when someone would knock at the front door of their smart £300,000 semi-detached home and runaway.

This continued for several weeks and eggs were thrown at their windows as well as milk.

When Mr Ashton went outside, he saw the teenagers speeding away on scooters.

Maureen, a semi-retired nurse, said they were living in fear of their lives as the intimidation continued.

She said her husband began sleeping downstairs as he feared petrol would be poured through the letterbox.

Their disabled adult son, who has Cerebral Palsy and Asperger’s Syndrome, was so upset that the couple had to find him alternative accommodation as he was unable to cope with the uncertainty of what was happening.

Matters came to a head on the evening of October 11 when the couple feared someone was trying to kick in their front door.

Mr Ashton said: ‘There was an almighty bang and it felt like the door was caving in. It was so loud that our neighbours heard.

‘By that time, I’d had enough and decided to fight back. I did not see why we should have to put up with the intimidation.

‘The youth probably thought it was fun, but it was having a terrible effect on us. We could not sleep and did not know what was coming next.’

After he saw the youth fleeing on an e-scooter Michael got behind the wheel of his Audi A2 and went looking for the yob.

After spotting the youth he mounted the pavement and knocked him off the scooter.

The teen went under the front wheel of his car suffering a fractured foot and multiple bruising.

As he stood over the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, he told him: ‘That’s for vandalising my house.’

Mr Ashton said: ‘I had a dashcam on the car and it captured everything. The teenager was on the floor and someone who knew him came over and was very angry. I handed him the dash cam and told him to call the police.

‘Someone must have called the boy’s father as he turned up and smashed one of the car’s windows with a golf club. I did not try to leave and knew everything had been caught on the dash cam.’

Later that night a group of youths came back to the couple’s house and wrecked his car causing it to be written off.

Gloucester Police were now so concerned for the safety of the couple that they advised them to leave the area for fear of further retribution.

When they refused to move police installed two security cameras at the property.

There were no further incidents until the cameras were removed after three months when a golf club was thrown at the main living room windows causing damage.

Mrs Ashton said: ‘All the incidents had a terrible effect on our health. We were scared, and we just wanted it all to stop. This had been our home for 39 years and we no longer felt safe.

‘I became too afraid to leave the house. It was an awful time.’

Mr Ashton pleaded guilty at a magistrate’s court to a charge of dangerous driving and was told the case would be sent to Gloucester Crown Court (pictured) as they had greater sentencing powers

The ordeal for retired mechanic Mr Ashton (left) and his wife Maureen (right) from Cheltenham began in October 2021 when they heard some youths in a neighbour’s garden

Her husband pleaded guilty at a magistrate’s court to a charge of dangerous driving and was told the case would be sent to Gloucester Crown Court as they had greater sentencing powers.

He was prepared to go to prison and said he had to represent himself as he was unable to afford the £1,800 he had been quoted to hire a solicitor.

The dash cam footage was played in court last week and the judge heard the teen suffered a fractured foot, bruising and whiplash.

But he also heard how police and the CPS had apparently failed to investigate the pensioner’s complaints about the teen’s anti-social behaviour.

The judge said: ‘It is quite irresponsible of the CPS not to have investigated this further, considering the time it has taken to come to court.

‘I am surprised that the CPS or the police have not looked into the background circumstances surrounding this case. This I believe would be proper mitigation and maybe highlight other anti-social behaviour in this area.

He said the prosecution seemed to ‘have lost interest’ in the case as it was over two years to be brought to court.

Much to the delight of the Ashtons, the judge ruled that he did not have to pay compensation to the teen.

‘I think the judge realised what we had been through and how vulnerable we were,’ said Mr Ashton.

‘This all began because I told a teenager that he could not do something he wanted. The judge said I should not have used my car as a weapon, but when I went after him all I wanted to do was disable the scooter and stop him coming round here. I was determined that he would not continue. I had to do something and stand up for my family.

‘I did feel let down by the police. If they had taken it seriously in the first place it might not have ended up in court.

His wife added: ‘This has had such a profound effect on our lives.’

A spokesman for Gloucester Police has been contacted for comment.

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