Young mother died after being knocked off motorcycle by 4×4, murder trial told

Glasgow Times

29-05-2025

Derby Crown Court heard that no words were exchanged between the driver of the Land Rover Discovery, alleged to be Keaton Muldoon, and the bike riders before Alana Armstrong, 25, went 'over the whole car' and was left 'for dead'.
Ms Armstrong died at the scene in Batley Lane, Pleasley, Derbyshire, after the vehicle allegedly rammed into the back of the Sur-Ron off-road, electric bike while she was riding pillion on the evening of November 26 last year, the jury heard.
Muldoon, 23, denies Ms Armstrong's murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to her boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, whose leg was amputated 6in (15cm) above the knee after the collision.
The defendant, whom the court was told was a drug dealer, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving before his trial began.
A recorded police interview with Mr Newton-Kay, who had been in a relationship with Ms Armstrong for four years before her death, was played to the jury on Thursday.
He told detectives that Ms Armstrong, from Tibshelf, Derbyshire, was on the back of the bike he was riding when the Land Rover Discovery 'chased' the couple and his friend, James Gilbert, who was on a separate bike, the jury heard.
He told police he did not know the defendant, had never spoken to him, and did not believe Ms Armstrong knew him either.
The court had been told the 4×4 was parked in a lay-by in Sampsons Lane, near Pleasley, after Muldoon, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, picked up a woman who wanted to buy drugs from him.
Mr Newton-Kay told police: 'We were driving down one of the lanes, I can't remember what lane it was, and there was a 4×4 just sat on the other side of a hedge in a farmer's field.
'I can't remember who it was, but somebody said that the car was there. We had already gone past it.
'We went back to see if they needed help or if they were alright.
'It spun round … and came flying at us down the lane. It chased us out of the field and chased us down the lane.
'When the car spun round, I didn't know if it was a farmer and he didn't want us in his field. As soon as he came out the field, I knew it wasn't a farmer.
'We never actually got to speak to them, no words went from any of us to any of them. We didn't get one word in. He didn't say anything to us, she didn't, we didn't say anything to them.'
Mr Newton-Kay told police Ms Armstrong hugged him 'very tight' on the back of the bike when they were allegedly pursued.
The court heard him tell detectives the 4×4 attempted to hit his bike four times, and on the fifth 'he had us'.
He told police: 'My wheel was on his front bumper, it was only a couple seconds at a time. It was very hard to control the bike.
'The fifth time I can just remember being under the car, the car driving off and going for my mate and as I've looked down the road, my missus is laid there.
'She's ended up flying backwards. The bonnet of the car must have hit her back. I tried to drag myself across the floor to her, that's when I realised about my leg.
'Adrenaline took over. I really didn't care about myself, I needed to get to Alana. She didn't say much, it was two words or something.'
Mr Newton-Kay told police the 4×4 went over his leg, drove away and 'left us for dead, pretty much'.
He added: 'James came back, I don't know how he got away. As soon as he came back he rang the ambulance and his dad. James tried to do CPR on Alana but she was already gone.
'The first time he tried to hit me, all that was going through my head was I needed to get away.
'I don't know what was going through his head. I have never met the guy, never heard of him until this.'
The court heard that two minutes and 20 seconds passed between the time Mr Newton-Kay left the lay-by where the vehicle was parked and when he stopped at the site of the collision, based on the GPS data from his phone.
Mr Newton-Kay told police he rode his black, orange and blue electric bike four or five times a day, and was 'comfortable' riding it, although he had smoked cannabis earlier that afternoon, which he said did not affect his ability to ride the bike.
The trial continues.