"Trapped in His Car: My Ex's Chilling 100mph Joyride and Threat to Drive Off a Bridge"

AS THE speedometer reached 100mph, Leah Bizzell gripped the passenger seat and closed her eyes tightly, convinced she was about to die.

In the driver’s seat, her ex-partner, Joshua Boland confirmed her fears, telling her that he was going to kill them both by driving off a bridge or smashing into a wall.

Leah Bizzell believed she was going to die when her ex Joshua Boland forced her into a car and drove at 100mphCredit: Focus Features Boland told Leah that he was going to drive them both off a bridge or into a wallCredit: Focus Features

And at one point, when he opened his driver’s door in the fast lane of the motorway, Leah believed she was moments from death.

Joshua Boland, 30, appeared at Swansea Crown Court in December 2024 and was jailed for 24 months for controlling and and 16 months concurrent for causing serious alarm or distress. He was also handed a

Leah, 27, is now rebuilding her life, but says the mental scars of the abuse will live with her for years.

Leah, a civil servant from Swansea, South Wales, says: “I really thought that Joshua would kill me in the car that day.

“He opened the driver’s door at 100mph and threatened to jump out.

“I have lasting , but I also feel very proud that I was at last able to see through his manipulation and his lies and break away. It was not easy, but I feel free at last.”

The couple met on in 2021 and their relationship initially went well.

Leah says: “It was and so we could only meet outdoors. I felt as though I’d known Josh for years and ironically, he made me feel at ease.

“Because of lockdown, our relationship probably moved more quickly than I’d have liked because he became one of the few people in my .”

As their relationship became serious, Boland started checking Leah’s phone and messaging her male contacts.

Boland was jailed for 24 month in 2024 and handed a ten year restraining orderCredit: Focus Features When Leah went on a bottomless brunch in 2023, Boland turned up and when she tried to leave his car he drove off leaving her inhuredCredit: Focus Features The incident left her with broken toes and fingers as a resultCredit: Focus Features

Leah says: “He presumed I’d slept with all the men I knew and he messaged to ask for details. It was humiliating for me.

“Some were men I’d gone to school with and not seen for years. I hadn’t had any kind of relationship with them.

“But then he’d say: ‘Oh nobody will want you anyway, I’m doing charity work by being with you.’ He completely destroyed my confidence and my self-belief.”

As time went on Boland slowly began to take more and more control over Leah’s life.

“I had a good job as a civil servant, but sometimes he didn’t let me go to work because he was jealous,” she says.

“He hid my car keys and my phone. Then he merged our phone accounts so he could see exactly who I was talking to and where I was. I never had a moment of peace from him.

“Once he found an overnight bag in my car which contained nightclothes and underwear and he locked me in my room for hours because he thought I’d been unfaithful. The bag was actually from an overnight stay with him, but he wouldn’t listen.

“I finished our relationship many times, but he messaged to tell me he’d overdose if I didn’t take him back.

“He actually claimed to have taken an overdose at one point. I couldn’t have that on my conscience. I wanted to help him, I loved him, despite everything. I felt responsible for him.”

In June 2023 Leah met workmates for a bottomless brunch, but Boland turned up outside the restaurant and demanded she come outside to talk to him in his car.

When she tried to get out again, he drove away and she fell to the ground injuring her legs and breaking toes and fingers.

She says: “He just drove off, with my bag and phone in the car, and left me bleeding on the ground.

“Again, I tried to end the relationship but again he manipulated me into giving him another chance.”

In a terrifying incident, after another split, Boland parked outside her home and refused to leave unless she got into his black Mercedes.

She says: “I went outside to calm him down because I was worried about him causing trouble and upsetting my family.

“He set off driving, without warning. I was in my pyjamas and I was barefoot. I was asking him to stop but he took no notice.

“He pulled up at a petrol station, and I opened the window and tried to shout for help, but he put his hands around my throat and silenced me. I was too scared to say anything after that.

“He drove off, onto the motorway, and we were travelling at 100mph. I was petrified. He was screaming that he would drive off a bridge or drive into a wall if I didn’t take him back. At one point, he opened his car door on the motorway and threatened to jump out.

“I really thought I was going to die that day.”

After a 20-minute ordeal, he dumped Leah outside his own home, still in her nightclothes. Realising she could have been killed, she went to the police.

But Boland’s harassment continued.

Leah says: “He called me dozens of times each day.

“He hacked into my account and messaged my mum, pretending to be me. It was so stressful, I thought I would never be free of him. The impact on my health was dreadful.”

Boland appeared before Swansea Crown Court in December 2024. The court heard that during a four-year relationship Boland had subjected Leah to threats and violence.

After the relationship had ended, he continued to harass her, calling her up to 86 times a day, following her and driving past her place of work.

The court heard that Boland was controlling, going through Leah’s mobile phone and accusing her of infidelity. He would also access her social media accounts and send messages pretending to be her.

When she tried to leave him, he would threaten to kill himself.

Defence counsel Jon Tarrant said that Boland was shocked and ashamed by his behaviour and recognised the effect of drug taking and alcohol on it.

Judge his honour Huw Rees said that Boland’s behaviour had been ‘unpredictable and manipulative’ and had caused ‘considerable psychological harm’. It included violence as well as emotional and psychological abuse.

He sentenced Boland to a total of two years in prison; 24 months for the controlling and coercive behaviour and 16 months concurrent for the stalking causing serious alarm or distress. He also granted a ten-year restraining order.

Leah says: “I am slowly building myself back up.

“I’m at work, I’m seeing my friends again and I am learning to live without fear.

“I want others to know how important it is to speak out.”

Leah has received support from Stand Up to Domestic Abuse.

Leah says she is learning to live without fear againCredit: Focus Features