Woman ‘killed boyfriend after losing temper and running him over after party’
A woman is accused of killing her boyfriend when she ‘lost her temper’ in an argument after a party and ran him over, a court heard.
Alice Wood, 23, is accused of murdering Ryan Watson, 24, outside their home in Rode Heath, Cheshire, on May 6 last year.
Earlier that night, the couple had been to a birthday party a few miles away for a user of the Headway brain injury charity, where Mr Watson was a support worker, Chester Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Andrew Ford said Mr Watson appeared to be ‘having a good time’, while Miss Wood ‘acted a bit cold’ as if she ‘wasn’t best pleased.
When they left the party, Miss Wood drove her boyfriend’s Fiat Punto back to their home in Oak Street and parked on a concrete area behind her car, a black Ford Fiesta, the court was told.
Mr Ford said: ‘Whilst deeply serious and tragic, we say this is a simple case.
‘She lost her temper, had an argument with her boyfriend when they were drunk, in a motorcar.
‘Things became fraught, he got out, kicked a door, and she lost her cool and used the car as a weapon.’
The prosecution said Miss Wood got into her own car after the argument escalated and ‘reversed towards Mr Watson’, before driving it backward and forwards in what one witness described as a ‘game of chicken’.
Mr Watson tried to walk away and stood in front of parked cars but she drove directly into him, turning off the carriageway to hit him, the court was told.
Mr Ford continued: ‘She drove straight into Ryan Watson for the second time, head on.
‘This time he did not go over the bonnet – she knocked him clean over, under the vehicle’s front end.’
Staff in a nearby Chinese takeaway described hearing a ‘life-threatening scream’, as she reportedly drove 158 metres with Mr Watson ‘under the car’.
At about 11.30pm, she knocked on the door of Theresa Colborne, who lived close to where she had stopped the car, and said: ‘Please phone an ambulance. I think I’ve ran over my boyfriend.’
When police arrived and Miss Wood taken into custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder, she told an officer: ‘It’s fine, I deserve it.’
A breath test revealed she had 61mcg of alcohol in her system, compared to the legal limit of 35mcg.
Miss Wood – who denies murder – appeared in court with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, wiped her face with a tissue at points as the case was opened.
The trial is due to last for three weeks.
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