A WELLINGTON woman who caused 14 miles of tailbacks on the M5, disrupting more than 30,000 people cried as she was jailed for 23 months.

Abigail Wyatt, of Trinity Close, admitted causing a public nuisance on August 25, 2016 when she appeared at Taunton Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard that the 26-year-old caught a taxi to the Monument road overbridge, between junctions 26 and 27, climbed over the parapet and threatened to jump on to the traffic thundering below.

The motorway was closed for safety reasons by police and seven-mile queues built up in both directions, involving about 19 thousand vehicles.


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She also told a young family member that she was going to shoot their older brother, and sent a picture of herself holding a gun.

Recorder Martin Meek QC told her: “You knew what you were doing: you only had to look up and see the growing queues in front of you to realise the inconvenience you caused.

“Members of the public are entitled to go about their business unhindered by you."

Wheelchair-bound Wyatt, who followed proceedings from the court doorway because her chair could not negotiate steps, sobbed as the sentence was passed.

She was given eight months for public nuisance, plus sentences of three months for sending communication intending to cause distress, six months for possessing a handgun with intent to cause fear of violence, and six months for dangerous driving.

She had three previous convictions for obstructing a railway engine and for battery while a resident at Rydon House, Taunton, and had been cautioned for criminal damage, battery and possessing a knife in a public place.


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She had called emergency services for years but had the capacity to take responsibility for her actions.

Following a family argument, she sent a message via Facebook to a ten-year-old cousin saying she was going to shoot his elder brother in the head.

The boy was described as young and sensitive and the message played on his mind.

His brother rebuked Wyatt and she sent him a photo of her holding a gun.

A few days later she lifted up her top to show a member of her mental health team a small handgun tucked into her waistband and said she was going to kill the co-ordinator.

On June 26, the judge added, while she was on bail, she told police she was not satisfied with the support they gave her and that she was sitting on the M5 and intending the ram the first police car she saw and harm its occupants.

Three police cars followed as she drove up the motorway at 70 mph, “making contact with one police car and with one driven by a member of the public before going through Burnham-on-Sea at 40 to 50 mph and then into a caravan park “where there would be holidaymakers in considerable numbers”.

Police blocked her exit and she drove head-on into a police BMW, causing £12,500 damage. “That was quite deliberate conduct, endangering lives”, he added.


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In the early hours of August 25, she reported an assault by her husband, causing police to arrest him at 4am.

At about 9.30 she caught a taxi to the motorway bridge and threatened to jump unless police released him.

Susan Cavener, prosecuting, said she told them “Let him go or I'll jump” and continued to give ultimatums, saying “I'll give you ten minutes”, and was hanging over the M5 carriageway for two and a half hours before she was persuaded to make her way back over the bridge, where she was arrested.

Recorder Meek said she would serve half her 23 month sentence and would then be on licence.

She was also banned from driving for two years and will have to take an extended test.

Defending, Patrick Mason said Wyatt was a young woman with a complex background who began self-harming aged 12.

She had received therapy “for many years” for a personality disorder and had spoken of killing herself on many occasions.

She took 20 to 30 tablets a day and was “not at all mobile and is very unstable on her feet”. She had been a patient in a non—secure psychiatric ward and the handgun was an imitation with no moving parts and could never be loaded and fired.

She and her husband lived in privately-rented property and had recently reached the top of the council housing list, putting her in line for a bungalow.

This would “evaporate” if she went into custody, he added.