A WOLLESCOTE man with "thinking problems" smashed a car window with a crowbar in a terrifying road rage incident.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told unemployed plumber and electrician Dominic Haskew saw red when a woman made gestures and mouthed in his direction as she criticised his bad driving.

The 51-year-old then drove in front of the woman's car and braked sharply forcing her to slam on her brakes to avoid a collision.

Sati Ruck, prosecuting, told the hearing Haskew then got out of his Mondeo brandishing the crowbar above his head and he used it to shatter the driver's window on her car before leaving the scene.

Judge Michael Challinor told Haskew: "What you did was shameful after a relatively trivial incident, you attacked her car shattering a window.

"Fortunately she suffered no injury but she was clearly terrified. What you did has had a significant effect on her life and you are responsible for that."

The judge said he accepted there was no evidence that Haskew wanted to cause any harm to the woman and it was clear he just wanted to shock her after there had been "some provocation".

He described Haskew, of Brook Crescent, as a man who found it difficult to control his temper - "a man who decided to take the law into his own hands."

Haskew admitted affray, criminal damage and careless driving and he was given a nine month jail term suspended for 18 months.

He was further placed on supervision for a year, ordered to obey a two-month weekday curfew between the hours of 1pm and midnight and to pay his victim £250 compensation.

Michael Aspinal, for Haskew, said his client could remember nothing of the incident because in March 2011 he had been the victim of an attack when he was struck with an iron bar in an attempt to steal his tools.

He added Haskew was a "man with strong views" and concluded: "He knows what he did was wholly wrong and he is extremely ashamed.

"He is a man who needs to deal with his thinking problems. He is a man who knows he needs to sort himself out."