A Mercedes driver who killed a 25-year-old pedestrian and injured four others has been convicted of murder over the Christmas Day rampage in London.
Anthony Gilheaney, 31, launched menacing and unprovoked attacks on strangers enjoying a festive night out in the heart of London on December 25.
Aidan Chapman, 25, was targeted by Gilheaney who rammed his high-powered Mercedes at pedestrians along Shaftesbury Avenue, including head-on at Mr Chapman.
He suffered catastrophic brain damage and died in the hospital on New Year’s Eve after fighting for his life.
Mr Chapman’s devastated family said the defendant had ‘taken the best part of us’ during a trial at the Old Bailey today.
Gilheaney, from Harlow, Essex, also hit Arif Khan with his car after racially abusing him, and drove at three others, Marcelo Basbus-Garcia and his partner, Miguel Waihrich, and Mr Chapman’s friend, Tyrone Itorho.
He was accused of targeting people for racist and homophobic reasons, but the man told the court he was not in control of the vehicle after he had been attacked by a group of men, and that he did not intend to hurt anyone.
The unprovoked violence erupted after he had left a nightclub. Gilheaney got into an argument with a stranger, punched another stranger and attacked Hardeep Singh, a Sikh man, unprovoked on Shafterbury Avenue.
He then got behind the wheel of his car and began shouting racial abuse at Mr Khan, calling him a ‘P***’.
When Mr Khan tried to confront the crazed driver, Gilheaney drove forward before reversing back, knocking Mr Khan to the ground. Gilheaney then stepped out of the vehicle and unleashed an attack at the man, kicking and thrashing him around.
His attack, caught on the dash cam of an Uber, was interrupted when Mr Singh returned with friends. The group is thought to have beaten the defendant up, the court heard.
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Gilheaney continued his violent spree, driving his car up and down the road and mounting the kerb as people fled.
He drove at Mr Basbus-Garcia and Mr Waihrich who were walking along the street holding hands, having been to midnight mass, before hitting Mr Chapman and Mr Itorho.
Mr Chapman’s family said: ‘No parent should have to go through the hellish trauma of losing a child, words cannot describe the pain and anguish Anthony Gilheaney has caused us by his evil actions.
‘No amount of justice or prison time will ever be enough to compensate for our loss.
‘Gilheaney has taken the best part of us. He has left us with a dark void in our lives that can never be filled.
‘He took our only son from us. Something we will never get over. Something we will never forgive.’
Gilheaney had admitted the manslaughter of Mr Chapman late in the trial, and unlawfully wounding Mr Khan, but he denied murder and attempted murder of the three other injured men.
But the jury convicted him today of murdering Mr Chapman, attempting to murder Mr Basbus-Garcia and Mr Itorho, and wounding Mr Khan with intent.
Gilheaney has never had a driving licence, and he also said he had used false number plates to avoid parking tickets and other motoring offences.
He is due to be sentenced on January 30.
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