Driver who ploughed car into packed dancefloor guilty of attempted murder

Mohammed Abdul had told staff he would come back to kill them and "shut the place down" moments before the horror smash in Blake's nightclub in Gravesend, Kent.

The 21-year-old had been booted out the club for being drunk and left eight people injured in the carnage on March 17 last year.

Terrifying CCTV footage showed the car careering down an alleyway before bursting into a crowd of revellers who were awaiting a guest appearance by grime rap artist Giggs.

Abdul was today convicted of two charges of attempted murder at Maidstone Crown Court today.

One of his victims, Katie Wells, who was 18 at the time, told the court how she wanted Abdul to experience "one day of pain" like she has endured since the attack.

Jurors heard how just 10 minutes after he was chucked out the club, raging Abdul clambered into his Suzuki Vitara after smoking cannabis and downing 15 vodkas and tequila shots.

He then careered through closed metal gates and into a smoking area – sending a doorman flying as he tried to chase the car.

Clubbers can be seen diving to safety, with one young woman who had fallen to the ground, being dragged away from the wheels of the car just in the nick of time.

The footage then switches to the dancefloor in the marquee, which has a DJ booth, bar, toilets and sofas.

Headlights can be seen at the entrance before the car ploughs onto the dancefloor, sending revellers scattering "like dominoes".

Abdul then reverses back to the entrance before finally coming to a halt.

'I tried to hold it together' – Katie Wells' emotional victim impact statement

I have been in court for the trial and when the CCTV was first played I was literally holding back the tears watching myself being run over. I tried to hold it together as I didn’t want Abdul to see me upset.

I wish that the person who did this to me could just feel how much pain I am in for one day so he can know what my life has been like since he ran me over.

Not because I want him to be in pain, just because I want him to know how he has affected my life – Not being able to sleep because of the pain, not being able to walk properly, having to take medication all the time, re-living what happened in my mind.

All of this when all I was doing on that evening at Blake’s was having a fun night out with friends.

In the weeks after the attack at Blake’s I suffered nightmares and was in a lot of pain. Even now I feel anxious in certain social situations like when I am at a party in a crowd of people. I will think that a car is going to come driving through the crowd.

I do things like look around at where I am, checking that there is nowhere that a car could drive through to get to me. In May I was assessed as having anxiety and depression – all of which is a result of this incident – and I am on the list to see a counsellor about it.

On a day-to-day basis I also I feel like I have been missing out on things. I was 18 when this incident happened and should have been looking forward to the summer.

All this has not only affected me, but also my family and boyfriend. I had to move to my boyfriend’s house for a time after the attack as we only have a bath at home, and he had a walk-in shower, but this put strain on our relationship because we weren’t really ready to live together and we split up.

We recently got back together but I have had to rely on him a lot for basic things and the difficulties I have had with medication and anxiety also make things difficult for him.

Other family members have also been affected – my mum didn’t sleep for about two months after the incident and she worries about me constantly.

Bouncers at Blake's in Gravesend, Kent, feared it was a terrorist attack and that the driver may have been armed with either a gun or explosives.

Katie Wells, then 18, told the court how she suffered two fractures to her pelvis when the car "launched" towards her.

She ended up underneath the vehicle and was left with tyre marks on her thighs. She spent two days in King's College Hospital, London, before being discharged.

As well as her fractured pelvis, she suffered a sprained elbow, bruising and friction burns.

She said: "In some respects I think I was one of the unlucky ones as I was one of the more seriously injured, but actually I believe I am lucky to be alive after what happened as it could so easily have been even worse.

"Originally after the incident I had two months off work. I couldn’t drive and wasn’t able to walk so couldn’t really do anything.

"Any occasions I did go out, like to Bluewater for example, I had to be put in a wheelchair which made me feel embarrassed and self-conscious and I constantly felt like people were looking at me and talking about me."

She was one of eight clubbers injured that night, either by the impact of the car or in the resulting panic.

Cameraman Pierre Jermaine Joseph, 32, was pinned by the Vitara against the marquee and suffered a fractured shinbone and knee.

The court heard staff had made desperate attempts to stop the vehicle and to drag people out of its path as it rammed clubbers.

It paused at the marquee entrance for nine seconds before careering into the centre of the dancefloor and then reversing for several metres, pinning one reveller against the marquee metal frame.

Once it had stopped, the car and came under attack from those Abdul had tried to mow down and he was restrained by door staff until police arrived.

Abdul denied two offences of attempted murder as well as an alternative charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He also denied two charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to two revellers but admitted two offences of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Abdul, from Deptford, South East London, will be sentenced tomorrow.

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