Take Me Out contestant harassed woman in terrifying 20-mile road rage chase and tried to open her car DOOR

A TAKE Me Out contestant harassed a woman in a terrifying 20-mile road rage chase and tried to open her car door, a court heard.

James Fox, a beatboxer who appeared on ITV's Take Me Out in 2012, "took umbrage" with the 22-year-old when he couldn't push his way in.

Fox, 31, chased her along three busy roads in Kent including a motorway for almost half an hour after she refused to let him into her lane.

At one stage during the terrifying "cat and mouse" pursuit, he pulled his 4×4 alongside the victim's Ford Fiesta and tried to open her passenger door as she drove along in tears.

When he pulled in front of her, he braked so hard that he began to open his driver's door as if to decamp and confront her.

He also tailgated, made gestures, sounded his horn, took photos of her and held up rush-hour traffic behind him.

ROAD RAGE TERROR

Other motorists, including a foreign tanker driver, tried to shield the woman's Ford Fiesta, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Fox, of Richmond, Surrey,- who performs under the name Beat Fox – escaped jail after admitting dangerous driving on the A249, M2 and A2 roads in Kent.

He was caught on the woman's dashcam and later held up a handwritten sign saying 'Sorry' before driving off.

When arrested he tried to suggest his victim was at fault for using her phone to take photos of him and to alert her parents to her distress.

Prosecutor Ian Foinette said the victim was left with "no way of escape" by Fox's "bad driving" as she headed to work at 8.15am on February 15 last year.

He told the court: "This is a case of what is commonly known as road-rage and involved this defendant harassing and intimidating a 22-year-old girl.

"He was attempting to push his way into the outside lane at a point where she thought there was insufficient space and he took umbrage at her refusal to let him in.

"What resulted thereafter was some half-an-hour or so of intimidation and harassment."

He chased her from the A249, onto the M2 motorway and then the A2 towards Canterbury.

Fox, who has no previous convictions, was given a 10-month jail term suspended for 18 months at the hearing on December 14.

Judge Stephen Thomas told Fox, who sighed heavily when handed a two-year driving ban, he should "consider himself lucky".

'CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY'

Mr Thomas added: "What came over you that day is difficult to understand.

"Having not been allowed to complete the manoeuvre as you thought you ought to have been done, you seem to have completely lost your temper and all sense of reason.

"You engaged in the most intimidatory driving against your victim.

"Not only did you conduct yourself in a way that was dangerous to her but also caused danger and inconvenience to other motorists.

"We have all seen it and we all know what that behaviour is, but you took it to an entirely new level.

"It was very unpleasant and dangerous in the extreme."

Fox must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation sessions 'to learn how to control his temper'.

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