Two bar staff who flung a pensioner headfirst into

Two bar staff who flung a pensioner headfirst into the road claimed the old man tripped and fell, the Old Bailey heard today.

(tues)

Pub manager Edward Mason, 27, also squabbled with his barman Jeremy Muscat, 21, over ‘whether to tell the truth’ while standing over the man’s lifeless body.

Derek McCullough, 64, suffered a brain haemorrhage and died after he was literally thrown out of Yates Wine Lodge, in Guildford, Surrey, the Old Bailey heard.

Shopper Hendrika Ponton recalled seeing the man’s body ‘flying past’ and landing in the road.

‘Just before, I heard a bit of a commotion from inside the pub, people shouting,’ she told the court.

‘I didn’t see him pushed, I just saw him landing in the road.

‘His feet or any other part of his body didn’t touch the ground before his head hit the road.

‘I saw a car coming past.

It had to swerve out of the way.

‘

Mrs Ponton then saw the two bar staff come out of the pub and move Mr McCullough’s body out of the road onto the pavement.

She said: ‘I heard another passer-by asking what happened.

One of the men said he had just tripped and fallen.

‘Later on I heard the smaller man say to the larger man: ”What should I tell them”.

‘The other one said: ”Just tell the truth”.

‘The smaller man said: ”Are you sure I should tell the truth?”.

‘

Muscat, who is 6ft and weighs 19 stone, and his smaller co-defendant Mason both deny using excessive force to remove the OAP from the pub in August last year.

The man, who had previously been barred for petty misbehaviour, was told to leave and then thrown headfirst down the exit steps into the street.

Mrs Ponton’s husband Michael, who also saw the incident, described seeing one of the defendants standing over the body and saying: ‘I’m sorry mate, I’m sorry mate.

‘

He told the court: ‘I also heard somebody asking one of the men why he had been thrown out.

‘It was mentioned that it was because this guy was drunk.

‘I heard another member of the public say: ‘Well you shouldn’t have used that much force’.

‘

Mr McCullough, of Eagle Road, Guildford, was taken to hospital but died from his horrific head injuries the following day on August 10.

The man’s alcohol level was ‘very low’, jurors have heard.

Prosecutor Gino Connor has said: ‘As he was directed out by the two defendants it would appear Mr McCullough said something and then turned around and pushed the door in the direction of Mason.

‘The two then went towards him and forcibly ejected him.

‘

Muscat, of [17] Hillside, Woking, Surrey and Mason, of [84] Woking Road, Guildford, both deny manslaughter.

The trial continues.

ends