Mother who was ‘rammed' off e-bike sometimes supplied drugs, murder trial told
Jurors at Derby Crown Court were told that 25-year-old Alana Armstrong bought the Sur-Ron off-road electric bike for her boyfriend, which is not legal for road use and is known to be a 'drug-dealing type' bike.
Ms Armstrong, who had one child, could 'barely' fit on the back of the saddle and was not wearing a helmet when the Land Rover Discovery allegedly ploughed into her in Batley Lane, Pleasley, Derbyshire, just after 8pm on November 26 last year.
Keaton Muldoon, 23, who the court was told was a drug dealer, denies her murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Armstrong's boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, whose right leg was amputated 15cm above the knee after the crash.
The defendant, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving before the trial, the jury was told by prosecutor Sally Howes KC.
The court heard that Mr Newton-Kay was riding his black, orange and blue off-road bike with Ms Armstrong on the back that evening, while a friend was on another bike.
The jury heard that the three stopped at a lay-by in Sampsons Lane, near Pleasley, where the Land Rover was parked, and no words were exchanged before the vehicle spun around and 'chased' them down the country lane.
On Friday, Adrian Langdale KC, defending Muldoon, cross-examined Mr Newton-Kay, who said his girlfriend of four years 'sometimes' supplied cannabis which he drove her around to deliver.
The court heard that before the fatal collision, Ms Armstrong, from Tibshelf, received a message asking if she was available for a 'drop off', but Mr Newton-Kay said he was 'unsure' if they were going to deliver cannabis that evening.
Mr Newton-Kay denied that he thought the 4×4 parked in the field was a police vehicle.
He also denied wearing a balaclava on the evening of the incident and told the court he had not been doing wheelies and pulling out on other drivers before the collision.
Mr Newton-Kay admitted he had smoked cannabis that day, but denied that influenced his recollection of events.
Mr Langdale asked the witness: 'If two people pull up on a dark lane on what appears to be drug-dealing bikes, dressed all in black with masks on – that might be scary for a young man who knows the association, do you agree?', to which Mr Newton-Kay replied: 'Yes.'
Mr Langdale asked the witness, who gave evidence from behind a curtain, whether the bike is designed to carry two people, to which Mr Newton-Kay said: 'No.'
The barrister continued: 'You don't have any helmets on, neither of you. You seemed to suggest to police you didn't, as a general policy, wear helmets.
'You also suggested to the police you would drive, wherever you went, at maximum speed. Forty-six miles an hour to be precise.
'You were suggesting, with no seatbelts, no helmets, no safety gear at all, no brake lights, you were travelling at that speed.'
Mr Newton-Kay replied: 'Yes.'
The barrister asked: 'Did you seriously think that was a safe way to travel?' to which the witness responded: 'No, but I went trail to trail. I was not on roads much.'
Mr Langdale added: 'You have taken the restrictor off of it (the bike) which stops it going above the legal speed limit for that bike. When I say legal speed limit I mean the off-road limit, to make it go faster.'
The jury heard that the 4×4 made five attempts to hit the bike and 'kept dropping back' before it came 'out of nowhere' and knocked the couple off the bike on the fifth try.
Mr Langdale said: 'A two-tonne vehicle is making contact with you going, you say, 46 miles an hour four times and not once do you come off or lose control.
'You would be off and in a hedge is what I'm suggesting to you. Your account of there being four previous rammings… is simply not right, did not happen.
'You have no real memory of how you came off the bike. You undoubtedly came into contact with the car but it was not by him ramming you deliberately.'
Mr Newton-Kay replied: 'He deliberately chased me, deliberately rammed me, and left us for dead.'
The trial continues.
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Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
E-bike murder trial driver ‘was not acting like he had hit someone' after crash
Jordan Hind told jurors at Derby Crown Court that she did not hear anyone screaming or think there was anything underneath the Land Rover Discovery being driven by Keaton Muldoon. Muldoon, 23, denies using the vehicle to murder 25-year-old Alana Armstrong but has admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Victim Alana Armstrong was riding pillion on an off-road e-bike (Derbyshire Police/PA) The defendant, of Tuckers Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, further denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Armstrong's boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, whose right leg was amputated 15cm above the knee after the crash. The court heard that Mr Newton-Kay was riding his black, orange and blue off-road bike with Ms Armstrong on the back that evening, while a friend was on another similar bike. Giving evidence from behind a curtain on Tuesday in the third week of Muldoon's trial, Miss Hind said she was the rear seat passenger at the time of the alleged murder in Batley Lane, Pleasley, Derbyshire. Answering questions from defence barrister Adrian Langdale KC, Miss Hind said she was picked up in a pub car park shortly before the fatal collision at about 8pm on November 26 last year, having arranged to buy £30 worth of drugs from Muldoon. She told the court that Muldoon had asked her for her phone and clothes in text messages in the days after the incident, before texting to say he would hand himself in. Miss Hind, who could not be seen from the public gallery or the dock, said: 'Obviously I had been dragged into something I had not done and I was scared and I wanted it to be sorted.' After accepting that she had lied to police by denying she had ever been in the Land Rover when she was arrested at her home on suspicion of murder on November 30, Miss Hind gave jurors her account of the fatal incident. Describing how the incident started shortly after Muldoon pulled into a lay-by, Miss Hind told the jury: 'I jumped out and got into the back to get (drugs from a coat pocket). 'It looked like car lights because there were two lights. I thought it was police or somebody else and obviously I was panicking, so I laid down and I hid.' Muldoon was still in the driver's seat, Miss Hind told the court, and had driven off pretty much as soon as she had started hiding. 'It was just a normal pull away.' Telling the court she had felt no bangs and had not heard the sound of anything being hit by the Land Rover, Miss Hind said: 'It felt like it was going up grass verges and skidding and things like that.' Mr Langdale asked Miss Hind about assertions she had made to police that Muldoon swore while he was at the wheel and had shouted 'move out of the way' and said he had 'only meant to hit the back' of the victims' e-bike. Asked by Mr Langdale if she could recall precisely what was said, Miss Hind responded: 'I can't be sure of exactly what (was said) but it was around that same sort of thing. 'It comes up to the same thing of him knocking somebody off a bike.' The witness maintained that she had not heard any screaming, that she 'didn't hear anything under the car' and said there had been no attempt to ram the rider of the second e-bike. After pulling over following the incident, Muldoon remained calm, was not aggressive or 'acting like he had hit someone,' the court heard. Under re-examination by prosecutor Sally Howes KC, Miss Hind said she had made an internet search for the latest police news in the wake of the incident because of the comments made by Muldoon. 'I didn't feel anything but him saying that – obviously something had happened. It was just a general wanting to know,' she told the court. The trial continues.
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
E-bike murder trial driver ‘was not acting like he had hit someone' after crash
Jordan Hind told jurors at Derby Crown Court that she did not hear anyone screaming or think there was anything underneath the Land Rover Discovery being driven by Keaton Muldoon. Muldoon, 23, denies using the vehicle to murder 25-year-old Alana Armstrong but has admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The defendant, of Tuckers Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, further denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Armstrong's boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, whose right leg was amputated 15cm above the knee after the crash. The court heard that Mr Newton-Kay was riding his black, orange and blue off-road bike with Ms Armstrong on the back that evening, while a friend was on another similar bike. Giving evidence from behind a curtain on Tuesday in the third week of Muldoon's trial, Miss Hind said she was the rear seat passenger at the time of the alleged murder in Batley Lane, Pleasley, Derbyshire. Answering questions from defence barrister Adrian Langdale KC, Miss Hind said she was picked up in a pub car park shortly before the fatal collision at about 8pm on November 26 last year, having arranged to buy £30 worth of drugs from Muldoon. She told the court that Muldoon had asked her for her phone and clothes in text messages in the days after the incident, before texting to say he would hand himself in. Miss Hind, who could not be seen from the public gallery or the dock, said: 'Obviously I had been dragged into something I had not done and I was scared and I wanted it to be sorted.' After accepting that she had lied to police by denying she had ever been in the Land Rover when she was arrested at her home on suspicion of murder on November 30, Miss Hind gave jurors her account of the fatal incident. Describing how the incident started shortly after Muldoon pulled into a lay-by, Miss Hind told the jury: 'I jumped out and got into the back to get (drugs from a coat pocket). 'It looked like car lights because there were two lights. I thought it was police or somebody else and obviously I was panicking, so I laid down and I hid.' Muldoon was still in the driver's seat, Miss Hind told the court, and had driven off pretty much as soon as she had started hiding. 'It was just a normal pull away.' Telling the court she had felt no bangs and had not heard the sound of anything being hit by the Land Rover, Miss Hind said: 'It felt like it was going up grass verges and skidding and things like that.' Mr Langdale asked Miss Hind about assertions she had made to police that Muldoon swore while he was at the wheel and had shouted 'move out of the way' and said he had 'only meant to hit the back' of the victims' e-bike. Asked by Mr Langdale if she could recall precisely what was said, Miss Hind responded: 'I can't be sure of exactly what (was said) but it was around that same sort of thing. 'It comes up to the same thing of him knocking somebody off a bike.' The witness maintained that she had not heard any screaming, that she 'didn't hear anything under the car' and said there had been no attempt to ram the rider of the second e-bike. After pulling over following the incident, Muldoon remained calm, was not aggressive or 'acting like he had hit someone,' the court heard. Under re-examination by prosecutor Sally Howes KC, Miss Hind said she had made an internet search for the latest police news in the wake of the incident because of the comments made by Muldoon. 'I didn't feel anything but him saying that – obviously something had happened. It was just a general wanting to know,' she told the court. The trial continues.
South Wales Argus
3 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
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Jordan Hind told jurors at Derby Crown Court that she did not hear anyone screaming or think there was anything underneath the Land Rover Discovery being driven by Keaton Muldoon. Muldoon, 23, denies using the vehicle to murder 25-year-old Alana Armstrong but has admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Victim Alana Armstrong was riding pillion on an off-road e-bike (Derbyshire Police/PA) The defendant, of Tuckers Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, further denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Armstrong's boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, whose right leg was amputated 15cm above the knee after the crash. The court heard that Mr Newton-Kay was riding his black, orange and blue off-road bike with Ms Armstrong on the back that evening, while a friend was on another similar bike. Giving evidence from behind a curtain on Tuesday in the third week of Muldoon's trial, Miss Hind said she was the rear seat passenger at the time of the alleged murder in Batley Lane, Pleasley, Derbyshire. Answering questions from defence barrister Adrian Langdale KC, Miss Hind said she was picked up in a pub car park shortly before the fatal collision at about 8pm on November 26 last year, having arranged to buy £30 worth of drugs from Muldoon. She told the court that Muldoon had asked her for her phone and clothes in text messages in the days after the incident, before texting to say he would hand himself in. Miss Hind, who could not be seen from the public gallery or the dock, said: 'Obviously I had been dragged into something I had not done and I was scared and I wanted it to be sorted.' After accepting that she had lied to police by denying she had ever been in the Land Rover when she was arrested at her home on suspicion of murder on November 30, Miss Hind gave jurors her account of the fatal incident. Describing how the incident started shortly after Muldoon pulled into a lay-by, Miss Hind told the jury: 'I jumped out and got into the back to get (drugs from a coat pocket). 'It looked like car lights because there were two lights. I thought it was police or somebody else and obviously I was panicking, so I laid down and I hid.' Muldoon was still in the driver's seat, Miss Hind told the court, and had driven off pretty much as soon as she had started hiding. 'It was just a normal pull away.' Telling the court she had felt no bangs and had not heard the sound of anything being hit by the Land Rover, Miss Hind said: 'It felt like it was going up grass verges and skidding and things like that.' Mr Langdale asked Miss Hind about assertions she had made to police that Muldoon swore while he was at the wheel and had shouted 'move out of the way' and said he had 'only meant to hit the back' of the victims' e-bike. Asked by Mr Langdale if she could recall precisely what was said, Miss Hind responded: 'I can't be sure of exactly what (was said) but it was around that same sort of thing. 'It comes up to the same thing of him knocking somebody off a bike.' The witness maintained that she had not heard any screaming, that she 'didn't hear anything under the car' and said there had been no attempt to ram the rider of the second e-bike. After pulling over following the incident, Muldoon remained calm, was not aggressive or 'acting like he had hit someone,' the court heard. Under re-examination by prosecutor Sally Howes KC, Miss Hind said she had made an internet search for the latest police news in the wake of the incident because of the comments made by Muldoon. 'I didn't feel anything but him saying that – obviously something had happened. It was just a general wanting to know,' she told the court. The trial continues.
