Jury set to consider verdict in Aston Villa fan death case
May 12 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail
THE jury in the Lee Mockble murder trial was today expected to retire to consider its verdict.
After reviewing evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court for two weeks, the jury of eight men and four women will decide if Mockble, aged 21, of Robin Hood Lane, Hall Green, is guilty of murder and causing death by dangerous driving.
The court has heard that on April 20 last year, just hours after Aston Villa beat Birmingham City 5-1 at Villa Park, 26-year-old Villa fan Christopher Priest was killed.
It is alleged that Mockble deliberately drove at Mr Priest and his group of friends in order to get revenge after his car window was smashed by a pint glass thrown by Daniel Brown. Mockble denies murder and causing death by dangerous driving.
He claims that he drove away from the incident to tend to his friend before performing a U-turn to find medical help.
In his closing speech, Mark Wall, for the defence, said: “The circumstances that he found himself in at that moment he drove back down Aston Hall Road were such that he had to do something. There were people on both sides of the road and there was a black vehicle on the other side of the road.
