Mother died after being rammed off e-bike by drug dealer, murder trial told

Telegraph

23-05-2025

A mother-of-one died after allegedly being rammed off an e-bike by a 4x4 vehicle, a murder trial has heard.
Alana Armstrong, 25, died in Batley Lane, Pleasley, in Derbyshire after Keaton Muldoon allegedly tried five times to knock her and her boyfriend off the bicycle.
Muldoon, 23, who the court heard is a drug dealer, is charged with the murder of Ms Armstrong and causing grievous bodily harm to 22-year-old Jordan Newton-Kay. He denies both charges.
A jury at Derby Crown Court was told that Muldoon had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The defendant, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, appeared in the dock on Friday wearing a navy suit, white shirt and burgundy tie, in front of a full press bench and public gallery.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Sally Howes KC said: 'We begin shortly after 8pm on Tuesday Nov 26 last year.
'Pursued and chased'
'Emergency services – ambulance and police – attended the scene of a road traffic collision in a narrow, dark country road located in rural Derbyshire called Batley Lane.
'Upon arrival, paramedics found two people, a young man and a young woman, lying in the road together with a small electric motorcycle.'
The court heard that Ms Armstrong's boyfriend, Mr Newton-Kay, later told police that he, Alana, and another motorcycle rider on a separate bike – all of whom had smoked cannabis that evening – had been 'pursued and chased' by what he thought was a 'large, dark, old-style Land Rover or Range Rover'.
Mr Newton-Kay said he saw Ms Armstrong, from Tibshelf, 'roll over the whole car' as the vehicle 'came over' him when the vehicle's bumper hit the bike's back wheel, the jury heard.
Ms Howes said: 'The catastrophic injuries sustained by Alana Armstrong as a result of this collision were not survivable and she was declared dead at the scene.'
Amputated leg
The court heard that Mr Newton-Kay suffered a 'horrific' injury to his right lower leg, which meant it had to be amputated.
Ms Howes said that the vehicle – a Land Rover Discovery – had been parked up in 'darkness' in a field before Mr Newton-Kay saw it and decided to 'take a closer look', together with the other motorcyclist.
She said they noticed two figures inside, before the vehicle, driven by Muldoon, 'spun round' and 'came straight at' them.
Ms Howes said that after a fifth attempt to hit the e-bike, Mr Newton-Kay remembers being 'under the car'.
She told the jury that Mr Newton-Kay said the defendant 'just ploughed us' and 'left us for dead, did not even touch the brakes'.
The jury heard that Muldoon initially told police he did not drive the 4x4 vehicle that evening and that his uncle had it, but later admitted he had driven the vehicle but said that the crash had been an accident.
'Fear of being robbed'
Ms Howes said: 'The defendant later indicated to the prosecution that he was the driver of the Land Rover Discovery ... but that the collision was an accident and he further states that he was driving in a state of panic in fear of being robbed by the two people on the motorcycles.'
She told the jury that the defendant contacted a man within an hour of the collision asking if he wanted to buy the Land Rover, and an agreement was made to swap vehicles.
The prosecution alleges that the collision was a 'deliberate, targeted running down' using a 'highly powerful' vehicle to run the small e-bike off the road.
Ms Howes added: 'It's the Crown's case that at the time of the impact, the defendant must have intended to at least cause serious harm to his victims.'
The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.