Run over four times in a car park

A father pinned a man down in a supermarket car park so his son could kill him by running him over four times in their BMW, a court heard.

Gary Ternent, 59, and Bobby Ternent, 32, had picked up victim John Avers in the X6 SUV, the Old Bailey heard.

But when he got out of the car in the Iceland car park they used the BMW as a murder weapon, it is claimed.

Jurors were visibly shocked as they saw CCTV footage of the incident and heard the dying man’s blood curdling screams.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told the court Mr Avers had got into the BMW in Wood Lane, Dagenham, on September 13, 2020.

‘As he walked along, he was passed by a BMW X6…and that BMW pulled up next to him in the road and stopped.

‘Mr Avers got into the back seat of the car.

‘In the minutes immediately before that, Mr Avers had in fact been in telephone contact with the driver of that car, so obviously you may think, this was not a chance meeting.

‘The driver of the car…was Bobby Ternent.

‘Sitting next to him, in the front of that big BMW, was his father, Gary Ternent.

‘Three people now on board, Bobby Ternent drove to a nearby carpark…the car park at the back of the Iceland store on Whalebone Lane South, also in Dagenham.

‘What happened in that Iceland car park is that Bobby and Gary Ternent together murdered John Avers by deliberately driving that BMW straight at him, running him over.

‘With Bobby Ternent at the wheel, and Gary Ternent holding John Avers down on the ground in front of the car, John Avers was run over once; then Bobby Ternent spun the car around and ran him over again.

‘Gary Ternent then ran to join his son in the car…they then ran their victim over a third time, and then a fourth time.

‘And only then, satisfied that they had done enough damage, they drove away, leaving John Avers dying, or more likely already dead from the catastrophic injuries that they had caused him.’

Mr Emlyn-Jones said the real reason for the attack may never come to light but it was captured by a CCTV camera mounted on a nearby building.

‘There is no dispute that the two people there with John Avers were the two defendants.’

Jurors watched the footage and heard Mr Avers’ cries as his death played out across the courtroom screens.

‘You may be thinking that the position could hardly be clearer,’ Mr Emlyn Jones said.

‘These two men, acting together, deliberately ran over and killed John Avers.

‘The prosecution say that they are both guilty of his murder.

‘They attacked him together and they each plainly intended that he would be caused really serious injury or death and between them they caused him really serious injuries from which he died.’

Both Bobby, and Gary Ternent, of Movers Lane, Barking, both deny murder.

CCTV from a nearby house belonging Harroon Ibrahim captured the horrifying attack, the court heard.

Mr Ibrahim, who was at home that night, told police: ‘I still can’t believe that anyone would do that to someone.’

He ran out of his house after hearing screaming, said Mr Emlyn Jones.

‘He saw a large car and he saw that there was one person in it and in front of it from his vantage point there was a person on the ground with someone else holding him down.

‘He says that there was some movement between the two men in front of the car but he couldn’t make out exactly what it was, whether it was punching or kicking.

‘He realised that something was seriously wrong, so he ran to get his phone to call the police.’

Mr Ibrahim, having returned to his window, witnessed some shuffling between the two defendants before Bobby Ternent settled in the drivers’ seat and began to move the car.

‘He saw the large car reverse out of its space and he saw the BMW move towards the other two men.

‘He thought, as perhaps you would, that the driver was just trying to scare the person on the ground.

‘He assumed that the car was going to stop.

‘As he told the police, “I couldn’t believe what I saw next and I still can’t believe that anyone would do that to someone.”

‘He watched in horror as the car ran deliberately over the man on the ground.

‘He could tell that this was, obviously, a deliberate act because as he says, the headlights were shining directly onto the victim, there was no way the driver could not have seen him and there was plenty of room to drive round him and avoid him.

‘He knew from what he saw that the driver had run the man on the ground over on purpose.

‘Having turned around, the car then drove over the victim again, so fast that Mr Ibrahim could see that the back end of the car was lifted momentarily off the ground as a result of the impact with the body of the man that it collided with.

‘He then saw the man who had been holding the victim down run to get into the car, and then watched as the car drove backwards over the victim for a third time.

‘He did not see it happen for a fourth time, as we have seen it, because at that moment he ran out into the street to get into his own car to drive to the car park to see if he could help.

‘When he got there he could see just how much blood there was, and he assumed, certainly correctly, the victim was already dead.’

Mr Ibrahim remained in his car and waited for police to arrive, after which he gave them an account of what he had seen as well as the recorded footage from his CCTV system.

Bobby Ternent admitted running over Mr Avers when he was interviewed on September 18, five days after the killing

He claimed in his police interview that the victim had threatened to kill his wife and children.

Ternent said he was acting in self-defence after a heated argument broke out about drug money that Mr Avers had asked him to look after.

Bill Emlyn Jones, prosecuting, said: ‘He said that he and the deceased had been very good friends and that he had worked for the deceased for years.

‘He claimed that about three weeks or so before this incident, John Avers had called him, and asked him to do him a favour.

‘That favour was to look after £40,000 of stolen drug money and he wanted Bobby to look after it for him.

‘Bobby Ternent said he agreed and took the cash and kept it in his car…in three carrier bags.

‘He also said that Mr Avers had given him a mobile phone, especially for contact between them.

‘On the day of the incident, John Avers had called him on this special mobile phone and said he needed the money immediately and so, he said, that is why they met that night.’

Jurors heard that the defendant did go, with his father Gary, to meet Mr Avers in the Iceland car park with the money in the car.

‘He said that at that point, John Avers had started to scream at him saying that the money was “short”,’ the prosecutor continued.

‘They got into a row and they had a fight.

‘He said that the deceased was threatening him and he said that if Bobby did not give him the money, he would kill Bobby’s kids and his wife.

‘According to the defendant, the deceased was a powerful and well-connected man, so he took the threat seriously.’

Mr Emlyn Jones later said the prosecution refute the idea that Mr Avers was a ‘big time villain.’

He lost his comfortable lifestyle when his business went downhill and, as a result, may have had some involvement with lower-level drugs.

Presenting the final summary of Bobby’s account to the police, Mr Emlyn Jones added: ‘He described how John Avers was on the ground.

‘In a panic, he said, he got into the car and tried to drive over the deceased’s legs just to stop him from getting up.

‘He thought he missed the first time so, he said, he reversed over him again.

‘He said he did not see his father holding Mr Avers down and he said that his father was very drunk, screaming at him saying, “Look what you’ve done.”

‘So he admitted running Mr Avers over twice…but he denied he had done it four times as we in fact know from the CCTV.

‘You might wonder, if this is true, where the 40 grand went.

‘Well, Bobby Ternent said in his interview to the police that afterwards, because he was scared, he threw all the money out of the car out of the window as he drove away.

‘He then said that he dropped his father home before starting a fire in the car and leaving it.’

Both Bobby, and Gary Ternent of Movers Lane, Barking, denied murder.

The trial continues.

ends