Driver guilty of murdering woman by using car as weapon to drive into pedestrians

Liverpool man, 28, had taken cocaine and had drunk beer and spirits before ploughing into crowd on path

Rebecca Steer, 22, who died after being hit by a car in Oswestry, Shropshire (West Mercia Police/PA)

A driver who had taken cocaine before ploughing into a crowd of people has been found guilty of murdering a 22-year-old woman.

Stephen McHugh, who has never had a driving licence, was convicted of murdering Rebecca Steer by using his car as a weapon to drive into pedestrians in Oswestry, Shropshire.

A two-week trial at Stafford Crown Court was told Ms Steer, an innocent bystander, was crushed underneath the vehicle near a takeaway and died of “catastrophic” injuries.

McHugh, originally from Fazakerley in Liverpool, told the court he had drunk six beers and 10 double shots of spirits, and taken up to seven lines of cocaine, before his Volvo mounted a footpath outside a takeaway last October.

After Ms Steer’s death, her family described her as “the most loving, talented and kind-hearted person you would ever wish to know”.

Her family said: “We are all completely devastated by the loss of our beautiful girl Rebecca. She always had a smile and a laugh that made everybody love her.”

The court heard last month that at first Ms Steer narrowly avoided being hit by the car, before McHugh turned the steering wheel towards the group of people, then drove onto the pavement, dragging her under the car.

Two men were knocked aside by the front wing, the court was told.

Jurors deliberated for more than eight-and-a-half hours over three days before convicting McHugh by majority 11-1 verdicts of murder and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

The jury was not initially told that he had previous convictions related to drugs and the seizure of a sawn-off shotgun in Merseyside in 2019.

McHugh, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, near Oswestry, was found guilty eight minutes after the crown court jury was given a majority direction by trial judge Mr Justice Andrew Baker.

The 28-year-old swore as he was found guilty of murder and walked quickly out of the dock before a verdict was returned on the second charge.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Friday.

In a statement issued through the West Mercia force, Ms Steer’s family thanked everyone who had worked to secure justice.

Their statement said: “Rebecca Adelaide Steer, Becca to us, Becky to everyone else, was a pure joy to have as a daughter/sister and we all feel lucky to have had her in our lives, but we will always feel robbed.

“We all get to live a life, but through no fault of her own whatsoever, her life was taken from her by a few seconds of someone else’s stupidity.

“Her 13-year-old sister Kimberley summed it up perfectly in her letter to Becca at her funeral, [when] she said: ‘Becca was doing so well in life, and some stupid idiot stole her away from us’.”