A holidaymaker is facing the prospect of jail after he was found guilty of deliberately driving over part of a tent that had a woman and three children inside at a Cornish campsite.

Andrew Layfield had drunk at least four lagers and two rum and cokes before he got into his car, revved up the engine and steered it straight at the dome tent in the middle of the night.

The four people inside the tent had been in a central pod which did not take the full impact of the crash and all escaped unhurt. Police found tyre marks heading straight at the tent and over one side of the fabric of the tent itself. 

A court was told that the woman inside made a 999 call at 1.16am in which she said: “He is driving right at my tent.”

After accelerating into it, tourists in a neighbouring tent at the site at Widemouth Bay, near Bude, saw him get out and climb onto the remains of the tent before ripping it apart in a rage.

Layfield set off for his home in Somerset before police arrived but was stopped in East Devon, where he failed a breath test two hours later. However, his reading was so close to the limit that he was not prosecuted.

He had been celebrating his birthday at the campsite’s club room with his then partner but they had later argued. 

Layfield, aged 53, of South Quarry Piece Road, South Petherton, near Yeovil, denied dangerous driving but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.

Judge David Evans adjourned sentence for six weeks and ordered a probation pre-sentence report. He released Layfield on bail but with conditions including an interim driving disqualification.

The judge told Evans that immediate custody was an option. He said: “You have been convicted on the plainest possible evidence of the offence of dangerous driving. It was a particularly serious example of it and you will need to be sentenced in due course.

“All options, including immediate custody, are available. The adjournment is not intended to give you any false promise about sentence. This is a very serious offence.”

During the trial, Miss Victoria Bastock, prosecuting, said Layfield and his partner were staying in a tent in the Finch section of the John Fowler site at Widemouth Bay on July 25 last year when they went out to celebrate his birthday at the clubhouse at the other side of the site.

The roads around the campsite were narrow, gravelled and there was a one-way system and 5mph speed limit. Layfield’s Vauxhall Insignia was parked near his tent.

Miss Bastock said another camper was staying in a tent close by and heard an argument between a man and a woman.

She said: “He looked out of his tent and saw Layfield get into his car and drive off, apparently faster than the 5mph limit."

The other camper then saw Layfield return and drive directly at a windbreak outside a tent "and across part of the tent itself.”

He said he heard things breaking inside the tent and woke a friend in his own tent, who called the police. They saw Layfield get out and pull the tent apart with his hands and get back into the car.

Layfield told police he had not aimed at the tent but had hit the windbreak in front of it by accident as he drove off in the dark. He chose not to give evidence at his trial.