THE victim of a road rage attack has criticised the sentencing of a man who escaped jail after throwing a claw hammer through her car window.

Leanne Anglin, 24, spoke to the Echo about the terrifying attack and said she had since been left nervous and wary on the roads.

As previously reported in the Echo, her attacker Robert White was spared jail following his sentencing for the incident at Exeter Magistrates Court earlier this week.

The 25-year-old was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, six points on his licence and ordered to pay £142 compensation after he admitted the offence.

But Miss Anglin, of Exmouth, criticised the punishment and said she was furious that White wasn't put behind bars for the attack.

During the attack, White, of Langstone Drive, Exmouth, hurled the hammer through the rear passenger window of his victim's Polo, showering the seats in glass.

Miss Anglin said she was "terrified and hysterical" following the incident.

The hairdresser was driving towards her boyfriend Ciaran Minshull's home in Woodbury as he sat next to her in the passenger seat.

The pair had left Tesco supermarket on Rydon Lane, Exeter, and were heading towards the A376 when Miss Anglin was forced to merge with traffic into the fast lane due to roadworks.

She indicated and moved into the lane but when she came to stop side by side with White, who was travelling in a VW Transporter van, at traffic lights on the A376 at Clyst St Mary, White hurled the hammer through the window of her car. "I saw him pull a hammer from his passenger side, he then shouted something abusive at me and chucked it at my window," she said.

"I just drove, I was absolutely terrified.

"He had smashed the back window. I pulled in front of him into the fast lane to stop him and Ciaran took his registration number.

"He then pulled off towards a Texaco garage and did a U-turn. I was so scared I could hardly drive.

"The shock when I got home was too much — I burst into tears and was hysterical on the phone when Ciaran was speaking to the police."

She added: "The whole thing has left me quite worried, I'm more wary on the roads now.

"It has changed me in a way that I'm more concerned.

"I don't like driving on my own anymore." Miss Anglin said she does not feel that justice has been done.

"To me, the sentence wasn't very good — it's a let-off," she said.

"He's only got six points on his licence and had to pay £140 compensation. My window cost me £100.

"I'm not looking for money, I would rather that he had gone to prison."