Philosophy student to be sentenced for murder after driving over fiance

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A philosophy student who ran over her fiance after she “lost her temper” is due to be sentenced for murder.

Alice Wood, 24, claimed her partner Ryan Watson died in a “tragic accident” when he was hit by the Ford Fiesta she was driving near their home in Rode Heath, Cheshire, at about 11.30pm on May 6 2022.

But she was found guilty of murder last month following a trial at Chester Crown Court and is to be sentenced on Friday.

The three-week trial heard the couple had spent the evening at a party in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, with staff and service users of the brain injury charity Headway, where Mr Watson was a support worker.

Andrew Ford KC, prosecuting, said Mr Watson was seen on CCTV footage “having a good time, being a gregarious and outgoing party guest” while Wood was described by one woman attending as “a bit cold”.

Fellow party guest Tiffany Ferriday told the court she and Mr Watson had “clicked” and Wood was “pretty much left out” of conversation.

But Wood told the court that when she drove Mr Watson home from the party in his car, despite knowing she was over the drink-drive limit, he “flipped” and accused her of flirting with other men.

The student described an argument which continued when they returned to the house they owned in Oak Street.

She told the court she went out to her car to leave but Mr Watson followed.

During his opening address, Mr Ford said “she lost her temper” and “used the car as a weapon”.

The jury was told Mr Watson was trapped underneath the car as Wood drove 158 metres up Sandbach Road before stopping.

The court heard Wood was preparing for final exams in a theology, philosophy and ethics degree at the time and had a scholarship for a part-time research masters at Cambridge.

On the first day of the trial, she had a copy of the book Meditations, a philosophy text by Roman Marcus Aurelius, under her arm as she was led in handcuffs from the prison van to the court.

Following her conviction, Judge Michael Leeming warned Wood she “may never be released” from prison.

In a statement, Mr Watson’s family said it had been “so hard” to repeatedly watch the CCTV footage shown in court of the moment he was killed while trapped under the car.

They said: “The one person Ryan trusted the most is the person who took his life in such a violent way.

“Alice is in prison where she belongs but no sentence is going to be long enough for what she has taken from us and Ryan. He’ll never get to live his life and fulfil his dreams.”