Marquess of Blandford adds road rage to list of convictions

Charles James Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, a descendant of the Duke of Marlborough and heir to Blenheim Palace, added more convictions to his criminal record yesterday after a display of road rage.

Blandford, whose affairs of the heart and criminal behaviour have delighted gossip writers almost as much as they have distressed his aristocratic family, admitted dangerous driving, careless driving and criminal damage. The court accepted his plea of not guilty to a second charge of dangerous driving.

It was his second court appearance in less than two months. He is still awaiting sentence for other driving offences of which he was convicted after a trial in Coventry last month, but which could not be reported until restrictions were lifted at yesterday's hearing.

The 51-year-old has a long history of drug abuse. He has spent the past month being treated in London's Priory Hospital, where he was said to be making "positive progress".

Yesterday, a court heard how Blandford vented his fury on a fellow motorist, Graeme Kennedy, on a busy Oxfordshire road last summer. Blandford tail-gated other drivers at high speed, overtook Mr Kennedy, cut sharply in front of him, forcing him to swerve to the wrong side of the road, and overtook him again by driving up on the grass verge. He then stopped in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes of traffic, ran back to Mr Kennedy's car swearing and shouting and kicked out at the driver's door, then sped away.

"He was obviously driving dangerously," Mr Kennedy, a motor trader from the Isle of Bute, said after the hearing. "He was in a tearing rush and driving very dangerously. As far as I was concerned, it was road rage. He was just ranting, it was not very nice."

During a previous trial in Coventry last month, the court was shown police video of Blandford's Range Rover Sport tail-gating and "undertaking" other cars on the M42. It appeared to be almost touching the vehicle in front of it, before it swerved towards a police car, forcing the driver, PC Keith Dyson, to swerve away.

The car then weaved on to a slip road and accelerated away in an apparent attempt to avoid being stopped. The footage showed the police car reaching speeds of 72mph in a 50mph zone and 84mph in a 60mph zone to keep up with Blandford.

Blandford was banned from driving and released on bail to an address in south London so that he can continue to receive outpatient treatment.

Peter Binder, for the defence, said: "His doctor does say that he feels my client would benefit from remaining there, certainly for the short term."

Judge Morton-Jack replied: "I don't want to probe into every nook and cranny of his past but I do think I need to know what his condition is in some detail."

Blandford, who is the oldest son of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, will be sentenced in September. His past misadventures include spending a month in jail in 1995 for forging prescriptions to feed his drug habit. His relationship with his father almost broke down irrevocably.

The Spencer-Churchill family owns Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, near Oxford. Blandford's more distant relatives include Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.