Student who murdered fiance by running him over is jailed for at least 18 years

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A philosophy student who ran over her fiance after she “lost her temper” has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years.

Alice Wood, 24, claimed her partner Ryan Watson, 24, 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 6 May 2022.

But a jury at Chester Crown Court rejected her account last month and unanimously found her guilty of murder.

Sentencing her on Friday to life imprisonment, Judge Michael Leeming told the defendant: “Prison may be hard for you, Alice Wood, but you only have yourself to blame for the situation you now find yourself in.”

The three-week trial heard that 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.

Judge Leeming told Wood: “I am not sure to the criminal standard that you were in a bad mood at the party, but I am sure from the available evidence … that by the time you arrived back home the atmosphere between you had changed to a significant degree for the worse.”

CCTV footage showed Wood reversing her Fiesta aggressively in Mr Watson’s direction and then, on the defendant’s own admission, she deliberately drove at him.

Mr Watson was thrown on to the bonnet of the vehicle as the back of his head hit the windscreen before he slid off and landed on his feet.

The judge did not accept Wood’s explanation that she only intended to “scare” her fiance at that point.

He told her: “You accelerated towards him, giving him no chance to move away. Your intention was then to cause him some harm.”

The fatal impact came when Wood drove at Mr Watson again as he fell under the chassis of her vehicle and was dragged for a period of 21 seconds, the court heard.

The judge said: “In the heat of the moment and having failed to injure him in the first strike, this time you made no mistake. I am sure that there was an intent to kill.”

He said he did not accept Wood – who was one-and-a-half times over the legal drink-drive limit – was provoked by Mr Watson or in fear of violence at his hands on the night.

Judge Leeming went on: “Ryan Watson was vulnerable. He was a pedestrian, he was holding his mobile phone, he was standing on the pavement, he had been drinking.

“There was nothing he could do to avoid the fatal act.

“To my mind you have shown no true remorse for Ryan’s murder.”

In her victim personal statement read from the witness box, Mr Watson’s mother, Lisa Watson, said “my world stopped” from the moment she got a knock on her door to say her son had been killed.

She said: “My family had been destroyed in an instance and it hurt even more hearing who had killed him.

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

“She has tarnished all the memories we now have over the last few years.

“We took Alice into our family and her actions have showed how little she cared for Ryan.”

Wood wiped away tears as Mr Watson’s younger brother, Owen, also entered the witness box and told the court: “Now Ryan has gone the happiness has turned into darkness. Without him I will never be the same again. I have lost my best friend, the happy place in my heart.”

The trial 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.

Her parents and best friend were in attendance on Friday as the court heard that her family and friends remain supportive.

Wood wrote a letter to the judge in which she accepted sole responsibility but continued to deny the offence which she was convicted of and maintained she used her car only as a weapon for intimidation.

Gudrun Young KC, defending, said: “This is, on any view, a deeply tragic case.

“Prior to the evening of May 6, Mr Watson and Miss Wood were a young couple and it appears they were very much in love. They had just bought their first house together and they were living together with their dogs.

“They had been talking about having a family.”

She said Wood did not intend to kill Mr Watson and her expressions of remorse at the scene and since were genuine.

Ms Young said: “The reality is that she has lost the man she loved and will have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that it was at her hand.”

Wood had had a “promising future ahead of her” and character references described her as “extremely intelligent, hard-working, conscientious, kind, compassionate and caring”, she said.

Ms Young urged the judge to show “mercy and compassion” in setting the minimum term she must serve.

Judge Leeming said it would be for the parole board to consider when, and if, it would be safe to release her from custody.