A MERCEDES driver who launched a road rage attack on another man as they exchanged details after an accident has been jailed for 27 months.

Mitchell Clarke left his victim with a shattered eye socket when he lashed out at him after a piece of 'aggressive driving'.

The paint firm boss then used the pen he was writing with as a weapon, stabbing the other man through the hand with it, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Despite hearing him make a personal plea for clemency, saying he was very sorry for what he had done, a judge jailed the 27-year-old.

Clarke had his partner and young child in his car when he had been driving aggressively behind the victim's van on the A429 north of Malmesbury, the court heard.

When the vehicle got to Crudwell there was a collision and Clarke got out and tried to bully the other man into accepting responsibility for the crash.

As he got more and more angry he lashed out and punched the man in the eye before setting about him with the pen.

The father-of-two then shoved him from the van and made him accept the blame for the crash.

Philip Warren, prosecuting, said that the victim needed an operation on his fractured eye socket.

A year on he said he still felt pain and suffered bouts of double vision and had lost a great deal of pay as a result of time off work.

Clarke, of Newton Grove, Malmesbury, denied grievous bodily harm but changed his plea to guilty halfway through a trial.

Mr Warren said that in the past few weeks Clarke had also been involved in an incident where he smashed a phone belonging to his brother's girlfriend.

The police were involved, and it was dealt with by community resolution where he paid her compensation.

The court heard Clarke had also been given a suspended sentence for assaulting a man in a drunken incident.

Brent Martin, defending, said his client plainly had a problem with anger and needed help for it.

He said he was a partner in a firm called Corinium Paints which employed two people whose positions may be at risk if he was jailed.

Clarke has an eight-week-old son and another older son who he supports, along with his partner, he said.

Making his own plea from the witness box he said: "I am embarrassed and ashamed that I have had such an impact on someone who has no relation to me. I can only hope I can put into words my remorse and shame."

Jailing him, Judge Tim Mousley QC said "You had completely lost control of yourself and not for the first time in your life.

"You punched him again, then you picked up a ball point pen and tried to stab him with it.

"He picked up his hand to try to protect himself: you caused injury to the fleshy part of his hand.

"You then pulled him out of the van, he was extremely scared, and then made him admit responsibility for the accident.

"It is clear this was what is known as road rage. Your behaviour was intimidating and aggressive."

He also ordered Clarke pay his victim £1,500 in compensation as well as a victim surcharge.

PC Sam Bussey said: "The victim was badly beaten by this individual and sustained physical and longer term psychological injuries. What was a minor collision has ended up being a case of serious assault on an innocent man just going about his daily business. 

"We welcome this result as it reflects the seriousness of this crime and hopefully has taught Clarke a lesson that in whatever situation, whether or not it's a heat of the moment situation, it's not worth becoming angry or aggressive."