Gazza Vinyard – Ipswich/Lowestoft

Gazza Vinyard, 34, of Ipswich/Lowestoft

UPDATE: 13/12/2025

At a hearing on 12th December 2025 at
Ipswich Magistrates Court, Gazza Vinyard pleaded guilty to the following charge:

▪︎ Stalking involving fear of violence

Gazza Vinyard was sentenced as follows:

▪︎Mr Vinyard’s Suspended Sentence was activated, and has been sentenced to 52 weeks imprisonment.

▪︎He must pay £164 in costs to the court.

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Article from: 29/10/2025

A man lead a police chase whilst driving the wrong way down the A12.

Gazza Vinyard, of no fixed address from Ipswich, has been given a suspended prison sentence and banned from driving, after being convicted of several driving offences and stalking.

The 34-year-old appeared before Suffolk Magistrates Court on Friday, October 17, where he was sentenced to 52 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months

The court also disqualified him from driving for 24 months, and he will have to take an extended re-test.

Also, he must comply with rehabilitation, a community programme and was ordered to pay costs and charges totalling £197.

Vinyard pleaded guilty to six offences in total, with five of these being motoring offences.

They all occurred on Tuesday, September 9, this year and include: dangerous driving; failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis; failing to stop for police; driving without insurance; and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

The sixth charge he admitted was one of stalking, causing serious alarm and distress, happening over 10 weeks since June, 30, 2025.

This included him repeatedly driving past the victim’s home address, calling, texting and following her.

On Tuesday, September 9, at around 10pm, officers from the Roads and Armed Policing Team on patrol in Ipswich found a Volkswagen Golf on Felixstowe Road that had failed to stop for police earlier in the day.

It was believed that the car was being driven by Gazza Vinyard, who was wanted for domestic-related stalking offences.

On seeing the police, he failed to stop, so the officers engaged in an authorised pursuit, during which Vinyard drove dangerously, undertaking high-risk manoeuvres.

The pursuit continued onto the A12 at Foxhall, where Vinyard deliberately drove the wrong way down the carriageway towards oncoming traffic.

This put other motorists at risk of serious harm or death.

An officer utilised ‘tactical contact’ to terminate the pursuit, before he reached oncoming vehicles that he was travelling towards.

The two officers then alighted from their vehicles and chased him on foot before apprehending and arresting him.

He was charged on Wednesday, September 10, and made his first court appearance the following day.

At his sentencing he has been given two 26-week sentences to run consecutively, suspended for 24 months, for both the stalking and dangerous driving offences.

Also, he has been disqualified from driving for 24 months for the dangerous driving and given a concurrent 24-month ban for failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis.

For the stalking offences, he was also ordered to complete 26 sessions of an accredited programme and do 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

Thomas Ives, of the roads and armed policing team, said: “Gazza Vinyard made a choice to drive dangerously and therefore he chose to put other members of the public at serious risk. This manner of driving will not be tolerated on Suffolk’s roads and RAPT officers will continue to work tirelessly to pursue these types of offenders and put them before the courts.

“Vinyard’s actions were reckless and a serious threat to the lives of others – particularly at the point that he opted to drive the wrong way on a dual carriageway, towards oncoming vehicles at high speed. We were forced to take decisive action in order ensure public safety and end the pursuit before other motorists came to any harm.

“Vinyard doesn’t only pose a risk to other motorists but is also a threat in the domestic environment – as evidenced by his conviction for the stalking offence. RAPT officers regularly assist other departments across the organisation with apprehending suspects and we were very pleased to secure the arrest of Vinyard and see him brought to justice for all his crimes.”

We strongly advise any woman to make a Clare’s Law application before getting involved with this individual. He has a known pattern of targeting women, using, abusing, stalking, and stealing from them.