Rolls driver 'pulled gun on actress'

A Rolls-Royce owner terrified a blackcab driver and his actress passenger when he pulled a gun at traffic lights in Belgravia, the Old Bailey heard today.

Oliver Larholt, 30, later told police he had once taken the gun to a fancy dress party, the jury was told.

But Dutch actress Mirjam Hoogendyk and the cabbie were so frightened that he dropped her by the roadside and set off after the Rolls-Royce, giving police a running commentary by phone.

Larholt and his two passengers were later intercepted by armed police in Finsbury Park and a British service flare pistol was found in the car.

The drama for cabbie David Pengelly and his passenger started in Grosvenor Square at 3am on a Sunday in March last year, said Matthew Kennedy, prosecuting.

Miss Hoogendyk told the court she had been to a club in Berkeley Square and had caught the taxi outside the Ritz to go back to her hotel.

On the way she saw a "big golden car which almost drove into us from the left side. The taxi driver was very upset. In Holland they can be very aggressive, but he was very calm.

"The two vehicles carried on to the traffic lights. There was a thing going on, you know male people and cars and egos." Then, said Miss Hoogendyk, the Rolls driver took out a gun wrapped in cloth.

"It looked like it had a silencer on it. There was a golden Rolls-Royce and three men in it and a gun - I thought it was the Russian mafia."

She added: "It scared me. They looked at the cab driver as if to say 'do you see this' and they laughed. It made me angry.

"I didn't know whether to lie down or hide or get out." Earlier Mr Pengelly told the court the Rolls driver had pointed the gun then "said something to the people in the back and he looked at me with a smile.

"I was nervous, frightened. It has never happened to me before. At the time I thought the gun was for me".

The court heard that Larholt drove off and Mr Pengelly, after asking his passenger to step out, set off in pursuit while ringing the police. The Rolls was later stopped by officers in an armed response vehicle, who ordered the passengers out at gunpoint.

Inside the car they found the pistol, which appeared to be in normal working order. Mr Kennedy told the jury that Larholt was taken to Charing Cross police station, where he told police "the gun had belonged to his grandfather and he had taken possession of it after his death. He said the gun was in the glove box because he had taken it to a fancy dress party and it had remained there for many months and he had forgotten it was there.

"He said the gun had been produced because he had been horsing around with his friends and he denied any intention to cause fear or violence to the taxi driver."

Larholt, of Hampstead, admits possessing a firearm without a certificate but denies having it with intent to cause fear of violence. The case continues.