Two men found guilty of murdering e-bike riders

William Birchard was one of two men who died

Two men have been found guilty of murdering a pair of e-bike riders they had mistaken for burglars.

Alex Rose, 30, deliberately drove his Ford Raptor pick-up truck into William Birchard, 21, from Colnbrook, and Darren George, 22, from Egham, on the M3/A316 slip road in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, earlier this year.

Rose, from Sunbury, was found guilty of two charges of murder at Guildford Crown Court on Wednesday, along with his passenger Charles Pardoe, 25.

Mary Walford, senior crown prosecutor at Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) South East, described the deaths as "a tragic case of the two victims simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Rose's girlfriend Tara Knaggs, 25, was also found guilty of assisting an offender.

In the early hours of 22 July, Rose had seen "movement" in playing fields behind his address and thought someone was trying to break into his house, the CPS said.

Having called friends to help search for the culprits, he spotted Mr Birchard and Mr George who had gone out on an e-bike to meet a friend at a pub.

Wrongly assuming they were responsible, Rose chased the pair through the town at speeds of over 60mph in 30mph areas, before crashing into them, the CPS added.

Mr Birchard died at the scene and Mr George died from his injuries later that day.

Following the crash, Rose dumped his car before returning home on foot and calling police to report the vehicle stolen, the CPS said.

He had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of perverting the course of justice in relation to this.

Rose then travelled to Birmingham Airport with Knaggs, who used her phone to book both of them one-way flights to Istanbul.

However, they were arrested by police in the departure lounge and found to be carrying £4,000 in cash and no luggage.

Knaggs had told her mother it was a surprise trip for her birthday arranged by Rose, the CPS added.

"Two men lost their lives as a result of Alex Rose wrongly believing that they were going to break into his property," Ms Walford said.

Rose, Pardoe and Knaggs will be sentenced at the same court at a later date.

A fourth defendant, 25-year-old Samuel Aspden from Walton-on-Thames - another of Rose's friends who had driven around the area in his own car that evening - was found not guilty of both murder charges.