Man jailed after using army truck to go on rampage down residential street in Somerset

A man who rammed a US army truck into a police roadblock in Somerset has been jailed for two years.

Marshall used a two-and-half tonne truck to drive at his partner’s home in September – wrecking her car in the process.

When police arrived, they found him standing in the driveway holding a chainsaw. Officers approached him, and he lifted the chainsaw above his head.

Officers retreated, and he then got into the military truck, using it to ram past a police roadblock. He damaged multiple other vehicles on the street in the process.

The incident followed an argument between Marshall and his ex at their home in Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, over text messages she had found on his mobile phone.

Geoff Marshall, 41, had already pleaded guilty to assault and criminal damage charges when he was sentenced at Taunton Crown Court, which was sitting at North Somerset Courthouse on 10 November.

Sentencing him to two years in prison, Judge Burgess KC said the 41-year-old was a man of "good character" who was in a "desperate state" and acted "wholly out of character".

Marshall also told the court he was sorry for his actions, saying he was in the "midst of a breakdown".

On 10 September, the 41-year-old went on what was described by the prosecution as a “reign of terror”, driving the green flatbed truck through a roadblock, destroying four Avon and Somerset Police vehicles and damaging many other cars parked nearby.

Footage filmed by a neighbour shows how after forcing himself through the cars, Marshall drove away from the otherwise quiet street he lived on, Station Road.