'Road rage fatal attack' came days before big move

Andrew Peart died in hospital eight days after being attacked

A man was fatally attacked in a road rage incident two days before he was due to move away to make a new life with his girlfriend, a court has heard.

Andrew Peart, 39, died from a head injury after being hit with a "metal bar" by Jake McIntyre in Guide Post, Northumberland, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Mr McIntyre, 28, from Stakeford, Ashington, denies murder.

Mr Peart's partner Sarah Gray told jurors he had walked to a shop to escape her "bickering" when he was nearly "run over" by Mr McIntyre.

Ms Gray said she and Mr Peart had known each other "forever", but had only been in a relationship for eight months.

She said 22 August had been a "nice day" spent packing up her home in Guide Post ahead of a move to a new property six miles away.

"We were going to move in together and start afresh," Ms Gray said.

She told jurors they had been "bickering over things you bicker over when you're moving", although it was mainly her "moaning on" as Mr Peart "wasn't argumentative".

Jake McIntyre is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court

Mr Peart walked to a nearby Co-op shop where he encountered Mr McIntyre, who was driving a Mitsubishi Shogun.

Ms Gray said she spoke to her partner on the phone after the altercation and he told her he had been crossing the road when Mr McIntyre "almost ran him over".

She said Mr Peart claimed he had "shouted something at the car", and Mr McIntyre had then "hit him with a bar round the head".

Ms Gray said she drove to collect her boyfriend, but he went out again later saying he wanted a "straightener" with Mr McIntyre.

When asked by prosecutor David Lamb KC what that meant, Ms Gray said Mr Peart had been "perplexed" by the attack and wanted to "sort it out", either by talking it through or "fighting".

'Angry message'

Several friends who saw Mr Peart later that night said he had a golfball-sized lump on his head and he started going "wobbly".

When his condition started deteriorating, his friends said they tried to call an ambulance but were told there would be an hour's delay so instead flagged down a passing van which took him to hospital.

The court has heard Mr Peart died at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary eight days after the attack.

Ms Gray said the day after the attack she sent a "really angry message" to Mr McIntyre, whom she knew, asking what he had done.

She said Mr McIntyre, who was a cagefighter, initially claimed he only punched Mr Peart, but after being called a "liar" by her he apologised and said he hit him in the head with a metal pole once.

Ms Gray said she replied "once is all it takes" and then hung up on him, telling jurors: "There was nothing left to say really."

The trial continues.