A MAN who hurled a bottle at a lorry on the A34 near Oxford has been jailed after a judge said he could have killed someone.

Timothy Wall hid behind a crash barrier before hurling the bottle and cracking the windscreen of the 44-tonne HGV.

The 26-year-old was caught muttering and carrying bits of rubble at the side of the dual carriageway last September.

He was jailed for three years and four months at Oxford Crown Court on Monday.

Jane Brady, prosecuting, said the lorry driver heard an “almighty smash” as he drove past the Botley interchange at about 9.45pm on September 5.

She said two passers-by spotted Wall at the side of the carriageway a few minutes later.

She said: “He was noticed to be carrying road debris and also a light in his hand. He said, in due course, that he had smashed a bottle into the lorry.”

Miss Brady said the passers-by kept Wall at the scene until police arrived.

Wall spat in the face of a special constable who tried to arrest him.

Wall, of Sutton, near Witney, who has a string of previous convictions, including burglary, theft and arson, admitted charges of causing a danger to road users and common assault.

Rachel Drake, defending, said: “He has acted in a way, influenced by alcohol that day and the ongoing effects of using cannabis over many years, recklessly without any thought for the consequences of what he had done.

“He is beginning to understand that he has got to be substance-free to lead a law-abiding lifestyle. He has not worked regularly for any lengthy period of time.

“Understanding how serious his behaviour was is the first step to not behaving in that way again.”

Judge Mary Jane Mowat said that a psychiatric report to the court indicated that Wall showed signs of a personality disorder, although he had no formal diagnosis.Jailing him, she said: “You are not a child, you are not a teenager, you are somebody who at your age should know far, far better than to behave in the idiotic way you did.

“Throwing some sort of hard object into a dual carriageway, that hit and crack-ed the windscreen of a large lorry, that could have resulted in the death of one or more people.

“I hope you understand the potential consequences of what you did. I am not entirely sure you do.

“You have a considerable record for aggressive, disruptive and nuisance behaviour.

“It is clear that you are somebody with behavioural problems and have been since you were in your mid-teens, not unconnected, I would suggest, with the heavy use of cannabis.

“You thought it would just be fun to chuck things at traffic on the A34.”