Driver 'did not know' he had knocked mum off bike, murder trial hears

DRUG DEALER DENIES TARGETING THE COUPLE ON COUNTRY LANE

- By SOPHIE ROBINSON, PA

A 4x4 DRIVER accused of murdering a mother of one “did not know” he had struck her off the back of an electric bike and run over her boyfriend’s leg on a country lane, a murder trial has heard.

Keaton Muldoon, 23, of Mansfield, told jurors at Derby Crown Court that he would have stopped if he known 25-year-old Alana Armstrong, who had a young son, had been knocked off the Sur-Ron off-road bike and denied he saw her go “over” his Land Rover Discovery.

The defendant, who the court heard was a drug dealer and had a newborn baby at the time of the collision, said he feared he was being robbed but did not chase the bikes before Ms Armstrong died at the scene in Batley Lane, near Pleasley, on the evening of November 26 last year.

Muldoon denies Ms Armstrong’s murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to her boyfriend, Jordan Newton-Kay, who had his right leg amputated 15cm above the knee. He admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving before his trial began.

Prosecutor KC Sally Howes cross-examined Muldoon yesterday and suggested that he was made a “fool of” in the lay-by of a country lane near Pleasley after he picked up a woman who wanted to buy £30 of cocaine from him.