A van driver who clubbed a pedestrian with his son

A van driver who clubbed a pedestrian with his son’s cricket bat after running him over was warned he could face jail after an Old Bailey jury convicted him of the ‘cowardly’ assault.

Dennis Hall, 38, careered on to the pavement in his firm’s Mercedes van, smashing into Adam Hawkins and Spencer Groves.

And as father-of-three Adam Hawkins lay senseless in a pool of blood, Hall jumped from the cab and kicked his head like a football, the court heard.

He then hit him with the bat before getting back into the bloodstained van and roaring off.

Hall had been accused of attempting to murder both pedestrians.

But the jury acquitted him of the serious charges after the driver maintained he had lost control of the van and accidentally hit the two men.

But Judge David Stokes, QC, warned Hall he faces jail for the callous attack on defenceless Mr Hawkins.

Giving evidence eye witness Darren Ellis had claimed that Hall aimed his van at the pair, who are both in their late twenties.

The court heard Hall’s girlfriend was in dispute with civil servant Mr Hawkins, believing he owed her rent on a flat which she later had to pay.

On May 29 last year, Hall was driving the Mercedes van he used working for a cleaning company when he spotted the two men in Fulham.

He shouted ‘Parasite’ from the window then drove into the car park or a nearby block of flats, the court heard.

‘Adam Hawkins and Spencer Groves decided to go back to the area where the van had parked in order to confront Mr Hall about what he had done,’ said prosecutor Mr Ian Stern.

‘Needless to say there was a fight between Hall and Spencer Groves and Adam Hawkins.

‘

‘Mr Hall got injured in the course of the fight and was bleeding.

‘

Mr Ellis said he waited in New Kings Road while the others went to see Hall and they had come back laughing.

‘Then they said: ‘Run.

‘ I thought they were playing a practical joke,’ Mr Ellis told the court.

‘I heard a van coming.

It sounded like the engine was being raced.

‘Adam and Spencer got hit by the van.

It came up on the kerb I saw Spencer go across the pavement.

He just went flying through the air for about a metre and a half.

‘I could see of Adam was he was standing on the pavement, then the van hit him.

‘I was scared.

I was terrified.

I was more in shock than anything.

Its not every day you see two people being run over.

‘I saw a chap get out the van.

I started to walk away from the scene because I was scared of someone chasing me.

‘He went up to Adam.

He was just lying there.

I saw the gentleman get out the van and kick Adam in the head four or five times.

‘It was like he was going to kick a football.

The bottom half of Adam’s body flinched as he was being kicked.

‘

Mr Stern said Hall also used the bat to attack Mr Hawkins, who was due at the christening of his three children the following day.

‘Mr Hawkins was lying on the ground with a considerable amount of blood around him,’ said Mr Stern.

‘He also had a cricket bat with him.

That was a cricket bat he had bought for his son that very day.

‘

‘He was kicked several times and hit with the cricket bat.

‘

Mr Hawkins suffered a broken arm in the incident and Mr Groves, a travel agent, was left with a fractured shoulder.

Hall, of Pears Croft Road, Fulham, was arrested later that day but claimed the one ton van mounted the pavement by accident.

‘He drove around the corner and lost control and that was the last he remembers,’ said Mr Stern.

The bloodstained cricket bat was later recovered by police.

Last year a jury had failed to reach verdicts against Hall and a retrial was ordered.

Today (mon) a second jury acquitted Hall of two charges of attempted murder but convicted him of assault causing actual bodily harm to Mr Hawkins.

Judge Stokes told Hall the assault was carried out upon a ‘man who had already suffered injuries.

‘I am not prepared to rule out a custodial sentence because of the circumstances of the attack which were particularly cowardly.

‘It was a cowardly attack on a completely defenceless man who you had just knocked down – although of course I accept the jury could not rule out an accident.

‘

Judge Stokes adjourned sentencing until March 3 so reports can be prepared on Hall, who is a man of previous good character.

ends