A drug dealer, from Liverpool, has been jailed for life for murdering a 22-year-old student.
Stephen McHugh was handed a sentence of a minimum of 18 years for deliberately driving his car into a group of people, killing Rebecca Steer. The 28-year-old, from Fazakerley, took cocaine and downed six beers and ten double shots of spirits before driving his Volvo onto a footpath in Oswestry, Shropshire.
After a two week trial, a jury found McHugh guilty of murdering Ms Steer and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
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Passing sentence, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said McHugh had reacted to verbal abuse directed at his erratic driving by treating pedestrians "like they were human skittles". Describing the murder of Ms Steer, 22 and from Llanymynech in Powys, as an outrage, the judge told McHugh: "It could so easily have been much worse for the general group on the pavement.
"For Becky Steer, as everyone in court knows, it could not have been worse." McHugh previously claimed he "didn't mean to hit anyone". He told the trial that he was not angry with the group and had reversed to get alongside them to pick up a friend.
He told the jury: "I am not an angry person, I didn't really think about it. It was a moment of stupidity."
The CCTV shown to the court saw McHugh stopping in the road and exchanging words with a group of people near the Grill Out takeaway. At that moment Rebecca Steer was crossing Willow Street.
As she was crossing McHugh reversed the Volvo and narrowly missed her. She managed to get out of the way of the car and made her way to the pavement on the opposite side of Willow Street.
However McHugh then turned the steering wheel in the direction of Ms Steer and the group of people on the pavement and then he drove on to the pavement towards that group. prosecutor Kevin Hegarty KC said: "The driver's side of the car went on to the kerb, on to the footpath, and he proceeded to drive through the group. We say he used his car as a weapon - he used the power and the weight of the car to strike the group."
McHugh's vehicle hit three people, the court heard, including two men who were "knocked aside" by the front wing. Mr Hegarty told the court: "Rebecca Steer was more towards the front of the car and as the car increased its speed - as it went through the group, she was dragged down under the car."
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