A pedestrian’s leg was severed and thrown 50 yards

A pedestrian’s leg was severed and thrown 50 yards when
he was mown down by a speeding drunk driver, the Old Bailey
heard.

Mr George Bowie, 55, died of appalling injuries when he
was hit by Peter Trowell’s Range Rover and thrown through the
windscreen, the jury was told.

Trowell, 36, stopped further up the road with Mr Bowie’s
mutilated body still in the car.

The victim’s leg was found later and police used the
distance it had travelled to calculate Trowell was travelling at
twice the 30mph speed limit, it was alleged.

Mr Bowie had earlier been seen staggering along Jamaica
Road, Rotherhithe, at around midnight on May 23 last year,
‘clearly the worse for drink,’ said prosecutor Mr Howard Vagg.

Taxi driver Mr Leonard Bernstein (corr) saw him ‘stepping
into the road and back on to the pavement’ and braked as he went
by.

‘A couple walking behind Mr Bowie heard a bang and were
aware of something flying up into the air.

‘At no time was there any sound of a screech of brakes,’
said Mr Vagg.

‘The impact was so violent that not only was Mr Bowie
hurled through the windrscreen into the Range Rover itself, his
left left leg was severed and catapulted 50 yards.

‘The couple walked up the road and passed the limb on the
pavement.

‘
Moments later Mr Bernstein pulled up to drop off his fare
at a layby and the Range Rover stopped behind him with Mr Bowie
still on board.

‘The taxi driver got out and saw what must have been a
terrible sight,’ said counsel.

Trowell and passenger Mr John France got out of the car and
Mr Bernstein asked the driver if he had been drinking.

The driver allegedly replied: ‘No, only a small one which
the driver in the white Sierra gave me to calm me down.

‘
‘That was an out and out lie.

Neither the taxi driver nor
anyone else saw a white Sierra,’ said counsel.

Trowell later added: ‘He came out out of nowhere.

He
stepped out in front of me.

‘
A breath test at the police station revealed Trowell, of
Rope Street, Rotherhithe, was twice over the drink drive limit
at the time of the accident.

He declined to answer questions when interviewed.

Tests on security officer Mr Bowie, who lived near the
scene revealed he was also twice over the limit.

‘The speed of the Range Rover was calculated, by amongst
other things, the distance the leg had been thrown,’ said
counsel.

‘By measuring the distance it was found that the speed must
have been between 56 and 62 mph, and that was at the lowest.

‘
Jobless Trowell denies causing death by reckless driving.

The trial continues.

ENDS