Accused in 'shock' after fatal crash, trial told

A woman who is alleged to have been in a car that hit and killed a man during a dispute over cutting grass was in "total shock" after the collision, a court has heard.

Sarah Wigley, 39, her father Mark Wigley, 60, and her uncle Neil Shaw, 54, are accused of murdering Liam Green by hitting the 45-year-old using a VW Touareg car on Rose Tree Avenue in Cudworth, near Barnsley, at about 17:00 BST on 3 April.

The three, all of Royston Road, Barnsley, deny murder and are on trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Giving evidence on Thursday, Sarah Wigley told the court that while "one second" she saw Green standing there, "the next he had just gone".

Prosecutor Tom Storey KC previously described their actions as "a joint venture to seek out Liam Green and to cause him at least really serious harm".

The court had earlier heard that the dispute arose after Green knocked on the door of Sarah Wigley's grandmother's home on the Rose Tree Estate and offered to cut her grass for £7.50.

Giving evidence, Sarah Wigley described herself as "a sweary person", but said she was not angry about Green knocking on her grandmother's door, only "frustrated".

After footage was shown to jurors showing her shouting, saying Green was "going to get it" and using an expletive, she explained she was only intending to give him "a telling off".

When Storey asked Sarah Wigley in cross-examination why she had taken exception to Green knocking on the door, she said: "He wouldn't take no for an answer by the elderly who he had been knocking on."

She also said he had "badgered" other neighbours.

Describing the moment the VW in which she was a passenger hit Green, she said: "It was literally a split-second. There was no time to think or do any sort of action, it was too fast."

Natasha Wong KC, Sarah Wigley's barrister, asked her: "What did you see at that point of impact?"

She said: "One second he was stood there, the next he had just gone."

Sarah Wigley went on to say her first thought when she got out of the car was, "oh my god", adding that she was in "total shock".

When asked by Wong if she had "expected anything like this to happen", she replied: "Definitely not."

Also giving evidence on Thursday, Mark Wigley told jurors he did not intend for the VW he was driving to hit Green.

"When I was sat to the right-hand side, I turned the steering wheel a bit, didn't realise I turned it more, waited for him to pass so I could go straight forward, but the car went off to the left," he explained.

Asked what he was thinking at the time, he said: "I just seen him disappear, so I stopped."

He added: "I didn't know where he had gone, I didn't know what had happened. I was in shock."

Prosecutor Storey previously told jurors that Mark Wigley, Sarah Wigley and Shaw had gone searching for Green together after speaking together on WhatsApp.

He said Mark Wigley assaulted Green in the street and then he "deliberately drove the vehicle towards Liam Green and accelerated, knocking him down and killing him in the process".

Storey said Green had been able to dodge the Ford Ranger which Shaw was driving, but was unable to escape the VW and suffered fatal injuries after passing underneath it.

The trial continues.

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