Driver who ran over people on Christmas Day convicted of murder

A driver who killed a man and mowed down others in a drink-fuelled rampage in London’s West End on Christmas Day has been convicted of murder.

Anthony Gilheaney, 31, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering 25-year-old Aidan Chapman and attempting to murder two other men in a series of attacks in the early hours of 25 December 2024.

Mr Chapman suffered catastrophic head injuries and died in hospital on New Year’s Eve.

Gilheaney, from Harlow in Essex, was also convicted of wounding with intent and causing grievous bodily harm. He was cleared of attempting to murder a third man.

The jury had heard how Gilheaney embarked on a violent spree after first getting drunk with his friends at Bar Rumba on Shaftesbury Avenue in central London.

The prosecution described how he started a fight with two strangers at the club as he was leaving and then embarked on a racist assault on Hardeep Singh, a Sikh, who happened to be walking past on the street outside.

He then racially abused and assaulted another Asian man, Arif Khan, with what police believe was a screwdriver, before kicking him as he lay on the floor.

This ended only when a group of Sikh men – including Mr Singh who Gilheaney had attacked earlier – intervened by beating him up.

The jury watched CCTV evidence showing an enraged Gilheaney then climb into his powerful Mercedes, for which he was uninsured and which had false number plates.

He reversed into an Uber vehicle before driving along Great Windmill Street, mounting the pavement and driving at pedestrians.

Two men, Marcelo Basbus-Garcia and Miguel Waihrich, who were walking hand in hand after attending midnight mass, were struck and later treated in hospital.

After narrowly missing a couple with their child in a pushchair he then drove across the street and hit two men, Mr Chapman and his friend Tyrone Itorho.

The court saw video footage of Mr Chapman being thrown into the air as he was hit.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC described how the 31-year-old threatened to beat up the officers, then broke down, falsely claimed to be a paranoid schizophrenic and said his brother had died of cocaine abuse.

At the trial Gilheaney admitted driving that night like a “bat out of hell”.

He told the jury he “definitely” should not have been driving as he felt “powerless, confused and in a state”, claiming he had no memory of the incident.

The prosecution claimed Gilheaney’s attacks were both racist and homophobic, as he targeted two gay men and Asians.

Asked by his defence barrister Jeremy Scobie KC if he was a racist, Gilheaney said: “Definitely not.”

“I come from an Irish travelling community, and I’ve been discriminated against my whole life,” he said.

It can revealed now proceedings have concluded that court officials were forced to take special measures as Gilheaney was tried because of his propensity to violence.

The doors into court 11 at the Old Bailey were locked when he gave evidence and Gilheaney was flanked by three custody officers even when listening in the secure dock at the back of the courtroom.

The jury convicted him of murdering Mr Chapman, attempting to murder Mr Basbus-Garcia and Mr Itorho and wounding Mr Khan with intent.

He was cleared of attempting to murder Mr Waihrich but convicted of the alternative charge of causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.

After the conviction, Mr Chapman’s family said: “No parent should have to go through the hellish trauma of losing a child, words cannot describe the pain and anguish Anthony Gilheaney has caused us by his evil actions.”

They said “no amount of justice or prison time will ever be enough to compensate for our loss” and that Gilheaney had “left us with a dark void in our lives that can never be filled”.

“He took our only son from us. Something we will never get over. Something we will never forgive,” the family added.

Det Ch Insp Wayne Jolley said Gilheaney “refused to acknowledge the seriousness of his offences” and tried to “portray himself as a troubled victim”.

“I commend the jury for seeing through this act,” he added.

Gilheaney will be sentenced on 30 January.