Edgware father died of 'catastrophic injuries' (From Times Series)

Car used as lethal weapon to kill Edgware father, court hears

6:14pm Monday 22nd February 2010 in Top Stories By Tristan Kirk

TWO men “intent on violence” trailed a father of three home and repeatedly ran him over, a court heard.

Garry Frater was left with “catastrophic injuries” after his body was crushed under a car and then dragged along the road for several metres in the early hours of May 30 last year.

Prosecutors at the Old Bailey today alleged Jake Lee and Louis Tate had set out to cause serious injury to Mr Frater, and did not hesitate before driving away after they ran him down in their Ford Fiesta in De Havilland Road.

Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said: “The two defendants were both intent on violence, they used violence, and they used the vehicle as a weapon.

“The car travelled some distance before it struck Garry Frater who was standing in the road.

“The vehicle continued to move in reverse for many, many metres – Garry Frater had no opportunity to avoid further injury.”

Mr Heywood said Mr Frater was sent flying backwards around 5m by the initial impact, before the car reversed over his body crushing him.

The driver of the car, alleged to be 24-year-old Mr Tate, then sped away dragging the 32-year-old several metres down the road before leaving him for dead.

His frantic friends, who had witnessed the horrifying crash, rushed him to Northwick Park Hospital for emergency surgery but he died four hours later from his injuries, from which the jury was told no medical treatment would have been enough to save him.

The first day of the murder trial heard how Mr Tate and Mr Lee allegedly followed Mr Frater, who had been out in Watford with three friends that night.

Mr Heywood told the jury CCTV footage purportedly shows the two defendants “shadowing” the four friends in Watford High Street as they went to Kismat Kebabs and waited for a taxi to pick them up.

He produced mobile phone records which alleged place the two defendants in Watford that night and show they tailed the taxi back to Edgware before the outburst of violence.

It is also claimed Mr Lee, 23, had a knife with him that night, but that the pair used the car as a weapon instead.

The jury was told the Fiesta, which belongs to Mr Lee's mother, was recovered the day after Mr Frater died. Its back and front windscreens were smashed and there were traces of Mr Frater's blood found on the back and the underside of the car.

Mr Lee, of Heathfield Road, Acton, and Mr Tate, of Rosamun Street, Southall, deny murder.

The trial continues.