Motoring Journo Jailed

Motoring Journo Jailed

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Discussion

Ct9823

Original Poster:

4 posts

46 months

Tuesday 1st October
quotequote all
I'm sure many of you will be aware of Chris Pollitt, formerly of Car and Classic and regular online motoring content poster. Over the last few years he has produced some quite good content restoring old cars, particularly a couple of Rover 800s and an old Daimler. He did one about an old Rover 827 that he rescued from a hedge and ended up exhibiting it at the NEC. His social media postings have deteriorated over the last year or so alongside an alleged deterioriation in his mental health. Kicking off about former employers, being generally agressive and angry followed by teary videos expressing remorse etc. There was a "fundraiser" for him to help him get his life back on track at the end of 2023 that raised nearly £18k for him, much of which was contrubuted by his 35000 motoring content supporters/followers.

A couple of months ago he went dark on social media and this was accompanied by rumours of dodgy online behaviour/harassment of a sexual nature, the details of which I wont go into here (X/Twitter has all the gory details if you're interested).

However that pales into insignifance when matters culminated yesterday at Bristol Crown Court with him being jailed for 23 months for the ABH and Intentional Strangulation of his long term partner of 9 years.

What an absolutely tragic story for all involved.

KobayashiMaru86

1,329 posts

217 months

Tuesday 1st October
quotequote all
Ct9823 said:
I'm sure many of you will be aware of Chris Pollitt, formerly of Car and Classic and regular online motoring content poster. Over the last few years he has produced some quite good content restoring old cars, particularly a couple of Rover 800s and an old Daimler. He did one about an old Rover 827 that he rescued from a hedge and ended up exhibiting it at the NEC. His social media postings have deteriorated over the last year or so alongside an alleged deterioriation in his mental health. Kicking off about former employers, being generally agressive and angry followed by teary videos expressing remorse etc. There was a "fundraiser" for him to help him get his life back on track at the end of 2023 that raised nearly £18k for him, much of which was contrubuted by his 35000 motoring content supporters/followers.

A couple of months ago he went dark on social media and this was accompanied by rumours of dodgy online behaviour/harassment of a sexual nature, the details of which I wont go into here (X/Twitter has all the gory details if you're interested).

However that pales into insignifance when matters culminated yesterday at Bristol Crown Court with him being jailed for 23 months for the ABH and Intentional Strangulation of his long term partner of 9 years.

What an absolutely tragic story for all involved.
It seemed to escalate quite quickly. I'm not totally surprised it's happened but angry it did. For the people he hurt and all those who gave money to him. It's inexcusable behaviour.

Megaflow

9,917 posts

232 months

Tuesday 1st October
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eek

zsdom

1,130 posts

127 months

Tuesday 1st October
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That’s awful, cant even begin to think what his ex has been & is being put through

He went to some low & very dark places, it was so nice to see the car world reach out to him & even donate to a crowdfunder but never thought this would be how he’d repay everyone

essdaytwelve

5,054 posts

218 months

Tuesday 1st October
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Whatever his struggles there is no excuse for that behaviour, she could have died, love to Deborah and kudos for going public.

MrBig

3,119 posts

136 months

Tuesday 1st October
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Absolutely shocking. Never met the guy but he seemed to be a reasonable sort. I guess that's always the way.

I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but my spidey sense stopped me from donating to the gofundme. I'm quite glad about that now.

KobayashiMaru86

1,329 posts

217 months

Tuesday 1st October
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I'm always wary of gofundme's for spurious reasons then he disappeared so I sort of thought my initial concerns were right and that was it. But what was happening behind the scenes was far worse. The support for Deborah has been good to see. Many who thought they were meaning well and he's taken advantage of it.

Quhet

2,524 posts

153 months

Tuesday 1st October
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Absolutely horrendous. He clearly hadn't been well for some time but there there is no excuse for what he did. Really heartening to see the love and support given to his former partner on twitter and I just hope that she and their/her kid(s) can move on from this and rebuild their lives.

SteRB5138

177 posts

221 months

Tuesday 1st October
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Shocked to read about the jail term, I know he had his issues with mental health and was open and honest about it on Twitter/X in the past.

Shame as he quite entertaining on his YouTube channel. What a sad story!

tali1

5,273 posts

208 months

Tuesday 1st October
quotequote all
MrBig said:
Absolutely shocking. Never met the guy but he seemed to be a reasonable sort. I guess that's always the way.

I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but my spidey sense stopped me from donating to the gofundme. I'm quite glad about that now.
Seen a few comments on social media, where he has been rather arsey and abrupt in his responses.

Luke.

11,203 posts

257 months

Tuesday 1st October
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tali1 said:
MrBig said:
Absolutely shocking. Never met the guy but he seemed to be a reasonable sort. I guess that's always the way.

I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but my spidey sense stopped me from donating to the gofundme. I'm quite glad about that now.
Seen a few comments on social media, where he has been rather arsey and abrupt in his responses.
Bit like most of PH then.

Newestme

15 posts

3 months

Tuesday 1st October
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We all have issues with mental health. In no way does it excuse striking or assaulting a woman.

rodericb

7,249 posts

133 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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Maybe he needs an MRI on his head. Obviously I'm not attempting to diminish what he has done (I have not idea who he is apart from what is written here) but sometimes these behaviour changes are due to brain injury/trauma caused by tumours.

Retro_Jim

442 posts

58 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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Newestme said:
We all have issues with mental health. In no way does it excuse striking or assaulting anyone.

Fixed that for you

ThingsBehindTheSun

1,236 posts

38 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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Never really understood why people gave money to his GoFund page to enable him to restore a car that should just have been scrapped.


Truckosaurus

12,041 posts

291 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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ThingsBehindTheSun said:
Never really understood why people gave money to his GoFund page to enable him to restore a car that should just have been scrapped.
In exchange for interesting youtube content. Although I don't think anything ever got created after the money was raised (from memory I think I chipped in a couple of quid).

I see from Twitter that there are further allegations coming out about off-colour DMs he was sending to female motoring enthusiasts.

RemaL

25,010 posts

241 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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Met him in Jan this year at a little meet local to him. I did not know him before just via social media and I was shocked to hear about this. And thoughts with his Ex for what she and her family went through. Glad there has been lots of support for her.

As for Chris I have no views as I don't know the info or him personally.

The Selfish Gene

5,582 posts

217 months

Wednesday 2nd October
quotequote all
tough one this - but certainly seems like a genuine medical decline (not making excuses).

A friend of mine jumped in front of a train earlier in the year............that was a very rapid decline since Xmas, and I can tell you that at age 50 plus..........his personality changed significantly. I can only suggest that if someone with a couple of kids is willing to jump in front of a train, another person in medical decline could indeed attack his partner.

Very sad for all concerned.

Megaflow

9,917 posts

232 months

Wednesday 2nd October
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Truckosaurus said:
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
Never really understood why people gave money to his GoFund page to enable him to restore a car that should just have been scrapped.
In exchange for interesting youtube content. Although I don't think anything ever got created after the money was raised (from memory I think I chipped in a couple of quid).

I see from Twitter that there are further allegations coming out about off-colour DMs he was sending to female motoring enthusiasts.
I met him once at a Sramble and he struck me as a very genuine bloke, it looks like he mental health took a very dark turn on him.

Not that’s an excuse, btw.

dhutch

15,266 posts

204 months

Thursday 3rd October
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Retro_Jim said:
Newestme said:
We all have issues with mental health. In no way does it excuse striking or assaulting anyone.

Fixed that for you
This.

However, especially in the context of car people, sadly more often it is men being aggressive towards women.