A MOTORIST who deliberately drove at a pedestrian at speed has been jailed.

Driver Martin Andrew Robinson told the other man "I am going to kill you," York Crown Court heard.

The victim escaped death or serious injury by leaping out of the way.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris said Robinson had taken the law into his own hands and could have killed the other man.

"We don't have vigilantes, we have a police force and you pick up the phone and you call police," he told Robinson.

"That is how things are sorted out, not by getting into a car and driving at an individual and smashing through a hedge."

He said: "I am afraid I would be failing in my duty if I didn't impose an immediate prison sentence for that reason."

The judge also said the pedestrian should have been charged.

"He has clearly committed a criminal offence," he said.

The pedestrian had threatened to go round to Robinson's house and had not heeded Robinson's plea to desist.

He had been seen in public with a metal bar.

Robinson said the pedestrian had been arrested, but that case had been closed with no further action.

Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said the pedestrian had had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit and had clearly been at risk of being "significantly" injured.

The pedestrian had not given a statement to police about the incident and the prosecution had no information about if he had been injured.

The hedge had been damaged.

Robinson, 32, of Byland Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and having a baseball bat as an offensive weapon.

The judge saw a video of Robinson driving at speed along the road where the pedestrian was standing, swerving towards him and crashing into a hedge.

Robinson was jailed for nine months, banned from driving for 16 months and ordered to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

Mr Cordey said police found the baseball bat in Robinson's car shortly after he had driven at the pedestrian.

When he was arrested "he was visibly upset" and said he had been in a "blind rage".

He told police he believed he had had a mental breakdown and that he was on medication for depression and anxiety.

Defence solicitor advocate Neal Kutte said Robinson had behaved out of character and had immediately regretted his action.

"It is a one off incident," he said.

Sending him to prison would have a detrimental effect upon his family and a probation officer had assessed him as being of low risk of reoffending.

He had expressed his remorse about what he had done at the police station.