PHIPPS:DRIVER ACCUSED OF MOWING DOWN COP CLAIMS IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

A motorist accused of mowing down an off-duty policeman then reversing back over him told jurors today: ‘It was an accident what happened.’

Nathan Phipps, 22, allegedly ran over Detective Inspector Peter Howarth just yards from his front door after the officer told him to stop sounding his horn at 6am.

Mr Howarth, 53, screamed: ‘Don’t let him kill me’ as Phipps got ready to reverse back over his body, Snaresbrook Crown Court has heard.

The keen marathon runner later had to undergo extensive surgery for a double fracture to his leg, which needed a metal plate to repair the damage.

Phipps denied he heard ‘piercing screams’ or felt a bump during the incident in which he is accused of using his car ‘as a weapon’.

He said he later noticed his bumper was hanging off but did not realise that Mr Howarth had been run over and injured until later that morning, when police came looking for him.

Cross examining Phipps, prosecutor Caroline Carderry said: ‘The prosecution’s case is that you deliberately and intentionally drove at Peter Howarth, intending to cause him serious harm.

‘That is what the allegation is, what do you say to that?’

Phipps replied: ‘I would never do that.

‘It was an accident what happened.’

Phipps said he had driven to Overton Close in Wanstead, east London, to speak to his girlfriend, where she was staying with a friend, because he was upset after the couple decided to split up.

Mr Howarth was one of several people who had come outside to challenge him over his horn blowing on the morning of November 21 last year, the court heard.

Phipps said he had been ‘in a panic’ and was ‘upset and very afraid’ as he tried to drive off following the altercation.

He insisted he had ‘no intention’ he had hit Mr Howarth.

As he manoeuvred his car round and sped off he ‘heard a lot of shouting,’ but was not aware of any cries of pain.

Ms Carderry asked: ‘What about piercing screams?’

Phipps replied: ‘I didn’t hear screaming, I heard a lot of shouting.’

He said he was aware that he hit a wall, but did not know he had collided with a person.

After arriving back at home, he parked up the street from his home instead of directly outside, the court heard.

‘I did not want my dad to see the car where I had crashed it and damaged it,’ he said.

‘My intention was not to go into my house anyway because of the state of my face and my clothes.

‘I arranged for my friends to pick me up.’

He did not examine the car for any damage, but said: ‘I remember as I was walking away that the bumper was hanging off.’

It was only later in the morning that he learned that someone had been injured in a crash, and that police had visited his father’s home looking for him, he said.

He spoke to a solicitor, who arranged fro him to attend a police station, where he was arrested.

‘I was very upset and I was very surprised that someone was hurt,’ he said.

‘I was very upset because I was getting told that I done it deliberately as well and I had no idea somebody had been hit.’

In interview Phipps had claimed he did not realise he had hit a person and thought he had struck a wall.

He said Mr Howarth had not identified himself as a police officer and had not warned him he would break the window if he did not wind it down.

Phipps, of (90) Stokes Road, Forest Gate, east London, denies wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving.

The trial continues.
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