Jury in trial of woman accused of fiance’s murder sent out to consider verdicts
Alice Wood, 23, is alleged to have used her Ford Fiesta as a weapon when she hit partner Ryan Watson, 24, near the home they shared.
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Jurors in the trial of a woman accused of murdering her fiance have been sent out to consider their verdicts.
Alice Wood, 23, is alleged to have used her Ford Fiesta as a weapon when she hit partner Ryan Watson, 24, near the home they shared in Rode Heath, Cheshire, at about 11.30pm on May 6 last year.
She denies murder and manslaughter and told her trial at Chester Crown Court she did not realise he was trapped under her car when she drove 158 metres up Sandbach Road before stopping.
The prosecution allege she “lost her temper” in an argument after the couple had been at a party in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
The jury has seen CCTV of the moment Mr Watson was hit by the vehicle.
The footage showed the car reverse, hitting Mr Watson’s car, a bin and a bollard.
The Fiesta could then be seen reversing into Sandbach Road as Mr Watson walked away, before swerving off the road towards him, appearing to knock him on to the bonnet.
Opening the case, Andrew Ford KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “She drove straight into Ryan Watson for the second time, head on.
“This time he did not go over the bonnet – she knocked him clean over, under the vehicle’s front end.”
In tears during much of her evidence, Wood said she stopped the car and got out after travelling a short distance down the road because she felt it was not accelerating properly.
She said: “It was like stepping into a nightmare because I could see Ryan underneath the car.
“It was like I was in hell. It didn’t seem real.”
The court was told she then knocked on the door of a nearby house and told residents: “Please phone an ambulance. I think I’ve ran over my boyfriend.”
Judge Michael Leeming sent the jury out to consider its verdicts at 12.45pm on Thursday.
The court was adjourned at 4.30pm. Jurors will resume deliberations on Friday morning.