Civil servant `drove at car victim'

A motorist drove over and killed a supermarket worker who had been knocked down moments before by a hit and run driver, a jury was told yesterday.

The victim, Wayne Margrave, 22, and his work colleague, Nadine Woolford, who had been cradling his head in her lap, were dragged along the road in Kippax, West Yorkshire, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Mr Margrave died after suffering multiple skull fractures. Miss Woolford survived but sustained a broken right collar bone and left arm.

Paul Conlon, 28, denies murdering Mr Margrave and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Miss Woolford, 19.

He claims he only wanted to drive back in his Ford Fiesta to reproach the group around the stricken man after they had earlier punched and kicked his car when he impatiently sounded his horn in an effort to get past.

Mr Margrave, from Wakefield, who was an assistant manager at GT Smith supermarket, had suffered a broken leg after being struck by a Ford Orion which failed to stop in January 1985, said Peter Collier QC, for the prosecution.

The group was waiting for an ambulance when they became aware of a car accelerating and steering towards them, he said.

"Mr Conlon drove at the group of people . . . It was virtually certain some would be killed, some seriously injured. Mr Margrave and Miss Woolford were not able to move out of the way. He ran over them."

Earlier, Conlon, a civil servant from Kippax, had stopped and hooted his horn in a bid to get by. "Some people came from the group to Mr Conlon's car to explain that there was a man injured on the road. Voices were raised," said Mr Collier.

Conlon then "drove off, turned round, and returned to the hit and run scene".

A witness, Maxine Woodhall, 28, noticed the "angry face of the driver leaning forward" as he drove past, said Mr Collier.

"We were directing drivers away with a torch. We expected him to brake and go around us as the others had done. But he didn't."

The case continues.