Rebecca Steer death: Driver used car as a weapon, jury hears

Rebecca Steer was killed after a vehicle mounted the kerb in Oswestry

A driver used his car as a weapon when he mounted a footpath outside a takeaway and killed a woman, a court has been told.

Rebecca Steer, 22, died in Oswestry, Shropshire, after being hit and dragged underneath the Volvo, in the early hours of 9 October last year.

Stafford Crown Court was told Ms Steer was fatally injured after two other men were also struck by the car.

The accused, Stephen McHugh, 28, denies murder but admits manslaughter.

McHugh, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, has also admitted assault causing injury to Kyle Roberts, who was also hit by his car, but denies attempting to cause him grievous bodily harm with intent.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Kevin Hegarty KC said McHugh had been driving a gold-coloured Volvo in Willow Street at about 02:45 BST.

The court was told he had stopped in the road and "exchanged words" with a group of people near the Grill Out takeaway as Ms Steer, an undergraduate at Liverpool John Moores University, was crossing the street.

Mr Hegarty said: "All of a sudden, as she was crossing, the Volvo shot backwards. It narrowly missed her."

Flowers were laid at the scene after the fatal crash

Jurors were told Ms Steer, from Llanymynech, which straddles the England-Wales border, managed to get out of the way of the car and made her way to the pavement on the opposite side of Willow Street.

Mr Hegarty continued: "At that moment, Mr McHugh turned the steering wheel in the direction of the people on the pavement and then he drove on to the pavement towards that group of people.

"We say he used his car as a weapon - he used the power and the weight of the car to strike the group."

He added: "We don't suggest Rebecca Steer was his target - she was in effect a bystander."

The court heard Ms Steer's body was crushed as a result of the crash, leaving her with rib fractures and catastrophic internal injuries.

CCTV from the night, Mr Hegarty said, showed the group outside the takeaway were given no time to escape and Ms Steer "had no chance to get away".

McHugh was arrested on 10 October in Gobowen, Shropshire, and claimed he "didn't mean to hit anyone", the court was told.

The trial continues.