Aston Villa fan murder trial: Accused "feared for his life"
Mockble, of Robin Hood Lane, Hall Green, denies murdering 26-year-old Mr Priest, of Sutton Coldfield, and causing death by dangerous driving.
Mockble told the jury he was an Aston Villa fan and used to go to games frequently with his father and brother.
He said he had not been to so many recently after starting to work as a plumber, and hadn’t been to the game against Blues.
The jury were told that Mockble and two friends, Oliver Higgins and Ryan Pedley, were driving in Aston Hall Road on April 20 last year when a pint glass was thrown at their car, smashing the window and injuring Mr Pedley.
Mockble told the court that he had stopped outside Mandy’s supermarket around 200 metres away to “tend to his friend”.
He then drove away from the area, where the incident happened before performing a rapid U-turn.
Mockble said: “I turned the car around because Ryan was shouting: ‘Get me to a hospital.’
“I thought there would be some paramedics in the direction we had come from.”
Under cross-examination, Mockble admitted that he had answered all police questions with the response “no comment” while being interviewed the day after the incident.
He also admitted that he had not seen Mr Priest beckoning him towards him, despite saying so in a previous statement.
Prosecuting, Christopher Hotten QC said: “I suggest to you that this story you are putting forward now is the third version put forward by you at different times.
“You were telling a pack of lies then and you are telling a pack of lies now.”
Mockble answered: “No.”
(Proceeding.)
