Father ‘murdered’ teenage daughter ‘by driving over her twice after trying to attack boyfriend with crowbar’
The 19-year-old suffered significant chest and abdomen injuries during the fatal incident in West Winch, Norfolk
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A father killed his 19-year-old daughter by running over her twice as she screamed in agony, a court heard.
Nigel Malt, 44, is said to have been “totally consumed with anger” as he allegedly murdered Lauren Malt outside her home in rural Norfolk on 23 January this year.
The 44-year-old was estranged from his family as the relationship was “marked by drink, drug-taking and the use of anger and violence”, his trial heard on Thursday.
A jury heard graphic audio clips on Thursday of Lauren groaning after she was allegedly run over twice by Malt in his black Mercedes saloon car at around 7.30pm. The incident happened in their home village of West Winch near King's Lynn in West Norfolk.
Norwich Crown Court was told Malt was “in a rage” and that Lauren had been trying to stop him from attacking her boyfriend, Arthur Marnell, with a crowbar.
Prosecuting, Andrew Jackson said: “In a rage, he intended to kill Lauren or at least cause serious harm to her.
“He reversed his car into and knocked over his daughter. Having knocked her to the ground and stopped. He then drove the car forwards again over her body.”
Commenting on mobile phone recordings of the incident, Mr Jackson added: “You can hear Lauren in agony beneath the car.
“These horrible sounds must have been obvious to the defendant.”
The court heard that Lauren, who suffered a broken back, breast bone and ribs, died of traumatic injuries to her chest and abdomen. Lauren was “crushed to death,” Mr Jackson added.
The jury was shown neighbours' mobile phone footage where Malt shouts “Lauren get up please” after allegedly driving into her while a female neighbour can be heard shouting “you’ve killed her, you’ve f****** killed her.”
On footage recorded at around 7.25pm, Malt said: “Don’t get the police.”
Instead, the court heard Malt placed his daughter’s lifeless body in his car and drove her to a nearby shop where Lauren’s mother Karen - his estranged wife - was working.
CCTV footage from the shop showed Karen desperately trying to help her daughter, who was unresponsive in the passenger seat of Malt's car.
Allison Summers QC, defending, suggested that what happened was an accident and asked jurors to consider if Malt “actually saw his daughter at or near to the back of his car.”
She said he “had been drinking and was to a greater or lesser extent under the influence of alcohol”.
Ms Summers suggested Malt was “so distracted by his own anger towards Arthur Marnell, so hellbent on having the last word against Arthur Marnell that instead of... making the proper checks to make sure no-one was behind him, he reversed at speed and in temper, not to kill or to cause his daughter serious harm”.
Malt’s relationship with his family was “marked by drink, drug-taking and the use of anger and violence by the defendant” and his wife had moved into a separate home last April. His estranged wife had reported him to police in April 2021 for assaulting her, the prosecutor said.
“The estrangement from his wife and family fueled his anger,” Mr Jackson added.
The trial continues.