‘Revenge’ was motive for man, 60, murdered in van hit and run
Brian Darby was carried on the bonnet of a van driven by Martin Breeze and his son Shaun tried to intimidate a group of friends, court hears
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A father and son mounted a footpath, deliberately drove a van into a group of people and killed a 60-year-old man who was carried on the bonnet for 150m before he fell, a court was told.
Shaun Breeze, 28, called his father Martin, 56, for help after he tried to intimidate a group who were on a night out – and the pair were motivated by revenge when they mowed down four people, narrowly avoiding a fifth, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Brian Darby, 60, was killed after he was struck by the Citroen Berlingo driven by Martin Breeze on a footpath in Myton Way, Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, around 11.30pm on February 2.
The prosecution said both were guilty of murder as Martin Breeze was at the wheel and Shaun Breeze encouraged and assisted him by identifying the targets.
They both face alternative counts of manslaughter, attempted murder charges with alternative counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and perverting the course of justice by claiming the van had been stolen at the time.
Shaun and Martin Breeze deny the charges.
Nick Dry, prosecuting, said Mr Darby had been out with a group of different ages at the 3 Rivers Cafe and there had been “no hint of any trouble”.
But as they walked home, they had the “misfortune to encounter” Shaun Breeze who was on a bike, Mr Dry said.
The friends remonstrated with him when he barged into one of the group and he tried to give them the impression he had a knife.
But refusing to be intimidated, some of the group chased him off, only for him to abandon his bike when he collided with someone else.
Shaun Breeze then called his father, a painter and decorator, at their home in Owls Grove, Ingleby Barwick, and Martin Breeze was seen on CCTV driving off in his van to collect his son.
Mr Dry said: “The pair of them had only one thing in mind and that was revenge.”
Shaun Breeze identified the group to his father and Martin Breeze, who was still at the wheel, “made a beeline for them”, the prosecution said.
He left the carriageway, crossed a grass verge and cyclepath and deliberately drove into the group, in a moment captured from a distance on CCTV, jurors were told.
Mr Darby was carried on the bonnet for 150m before he fell into the opposite carriageway, the court heard.
Despite the efforts of a passing doctor and former trauma nurse, plus paramedics who arrived later, he could not be saved.
A woman in the group suffered life-threatening injuries, while two others were also hit, and a fifth escaped “by the barest of margins”, the court heard.
The Breezes drove off, abandoned the van which was badly damaged at the front and later told police it had been stolen.
After they were arrested on suspicion of murder, both continued to deny responsibility, Mr Dry said.
“They used their vehicle as a deadly weapon, no less so than were it to have been a knife or firearm when used in the manner and with the intent the evidence reveals,” he said.
The trial continues.