A MAN who tried to give his partner a fright and ended up crashing his car has been sent to prison for a year.

Preston Crown Court heard that James Marsden was angry after picking up his then girlfriend from Blackburn Rovers FC, where she had spent the afternoon after winning a prize at work.

He later tried to frighten her by quickly steering the car at right angles across the road. Simon Mintz, defending, said it had been a single manoeuvre, not intended to cause injury.

He told the court: “His intention was to frighten his partner. He certainly wanted to give her a fright, by crossing the road rapidly and then pulling short of an actual collision.

“He was planning a close shave. This was an isol-ated incident.”

But the court heard that he ended up hitting a parked vehicle in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors.

Marsden, 28, of St Hub-ert’s Road, Great Har-wood, had denied a charge of dangerous driving on October 4 last year, but a jury convicted him follow-ing a trial.

Marsden seemed in a mood when he collected his partner from Rovers and she asked him to take her to her parents’ home, the court heard. The defendant, while doing 30mph, went on to deliberately steer his father’s car at right angles, across the carriageway.

He then hit the parked car which was pushed into the middle of the road.

Judge Heather Lloyd told Marsden in passing sent-ence: “You were consumed with anger and a need to frighten and control her.”

Marsden was banned from driving for two years.