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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Man guilty of fan's road murder | Man guilty of fan's road murder |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| A man has been jailed for murdering a football fan by driving into him after a Premier League match in Birmingham. | |
| Aston Villa fan Christopher Priest, 26, died after his team's 5-1 home derby win over Birmingham City in 2008. | |
| Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Lee Mockble, 21, of Hall Green, Birmingham, deliberately drove at Mr Priest, on 20 April, killing him instantly. | |
| Judge John Warner told Mockble, who was jailed for life, that he would serve a minimum jail term of 12 years. | |
| He had denied the charge, but a jury took three hours to find him guilty. | He had denied the charge, but a jury took three hours to find him guilty. |
| Regardless of motive, this was a tragic case where a young man was robbed of his life Det Insp Nick Walton | |
| The court heard Mockble, of Robin Hood Lane, drove his Volkswagen Golf into Mr Priest in Aston Hall Road after the derby match in "a dreadful act of revenge". | |
| It followed an incident in which Mr Priest's friend, Daniel Brown, threw a pint glass at Mockble's car after asking if it contained Birmingham City fans, the court heard. | |
| The pint glass injured one of the passengers and damaged the car. | |
| The three-week trial heard Mockble responded to the "unprovoked attack" on his car by driving into Mr Priest, from Sutton Coldfield, without braking or swerving. | |
| Mockble had not been at the match, but was driving near the Villa Park ground as fans made their way home. | |
| 'Clear choice' | |
| Prosecuting, Christopher Hotten QC, said Mockble and his passengers were "victims of the attack" on their car and "were up to this point, in the right". | |
| He told the court they "had a clear choice" and could have left the scene or reported the incident to police. | |
| He said if Mockble had taken that course he would have "quickly discovered" that Mr Brown's act had been witnessed by three police officers who had arrested him "within seconds". | |
| "Sadly, that was not what Mr Mockble did. What Mr Mockble did, we say, was to take the law into his own hands," Mr Hotten said. | |
| He said instead Mockble "executed a rapid U-turn" and drove "significantly in excess of the 30mph speed limit" in the direction of Mr Priest and his friends. | |
| The impact of the crash fractured Mr Priest's pelvis and ribs and tore a main artery, causing him to die as he lay in the road, the jury heard. | |
| 'Complex inquiry' | |
| Mr Priest's mother, Barbara, sobbed quietly during the sentencing and shouted: "Justice has been done" as she left the court with police family liaison officers. | Mr Priest's mother, Barbara, sobbed quietly during the sentencing and shouted: "Justice has been done" as she left the court with police family liaison officers. |
| Supporters of Mockble responded with a raft of insults. | Supporters of Mockble responded with a raft of insults. |
| After the trial, Det Insp Nick Walton said it had been a "particularly complex inquiry", involving a large number of witness statements. | |
| He said there was never any suggestion it was a pre-meditated attack based on football rivalry, but that initial events "began as a result of a bit of football-based hostility initiated by persons associated with Christopher". | |
| "Regardless of motive, this was a tragic case where a young man was robbed of his life," he added. |