I held him as he died: Wife relives night thieves killed Navy officer with own car
AN ex-Royal Navy officer who was killed by his own car as he tried to stop it being stolen was repeatedly driven over, a court heard yesterday.
Michael Samwell’s widow Jessica described how she shouted after her former submariner husband not to intervene over a ‘stupid car’ – but seconds later was left holding his hand as he lay dying in the driveway.
Giving often tearful evidence at the trial of the man accused of her husband’s murder, Mrs Samwell said she found him with his chest beneath one of the Audi A3’s rear wheels. The wheel was stationary on her husband’s body for a few seconds, but the vehicle then reversed, paused again, and then sped forward, she recalled.
She then watched in horror as the £30,000 car – which Mr Samwell had only bought a fortnight earlier – was driven off at speed.
Mrs Samwell said her husband, 35, had dashed downstairs after they were awoken by the sound of a break-in as she screamed after him: ‘Mike, Mike, stop!’ She added: ‘I thought, what’s happening? It’s a stupid car. I hope he’s alright.’
But as she went outside through the rear doors, which had been smashed by the intruders, she saw him lying under the car on their driveway in Chorlton- cum-Hardy, Manchester. ‘I thought, Oh my God, what’s happening. How has he managed to get under the car?’, she said.
Manchester Crown Court heard Mrs Samwell, 34, who had been in the middle of making a 999 call, told police in a video interview: ‘I was shout- ing “help me, help me, somebody help me”.
‘I was just telling him that I loved him and held his hand.’
Ryan Gibbons, 29, denies murder but admits being at the wheel of Mr Samwell’s car.
Mrs Samwell, an accountant, added: ‘Mike was on the floor, he was half under a wheel and his skin was all scrunched up. The car then reversed, leaving him in the middle of the two sets of wheels. Then the car drove back over Mike and sped off.’
Mrs Samwell said she found her husband with two sets of tyre marks on his chest and making an ‘awful noise’ as he tried to breathe.
He suffered 39 separate injuries during the incident at 3am on April 23, including wounds to the head, fractured ribs and a laceration to the one of the chambers of his heart. Audio from the scene was captured on a nearby CCTV camera.
However Mrs Samwell’s screams were so loud they were also picked up by a camera in a neighbouring street.
Mrs Samwell said her husband’s car keys had been in the kitchen. After they were woken by the break-in, she said he rushed downstairs and she heard him shouting ‘Oi, oi, no. Not the f****** car’.
Alistair Webster QC, prosecuting, said ‘Only a few minutes later, Mike Samwell was lying mortally injured, dying outside his own house, having been, in effect, crushed to death by his own car, which had been driven over him at least twice.’
Mr Samwell, who had left the armed forces after 12 years to work as a nuclear engineer, was taken to hospital but could not be revived.
The court heard Gibbons’ DNA was found on a cigarette end outside the Samwells’ home, and his DNA was also on
‘Mike was half under a wheel’
the steering wheel of the car.
Gibbons, of Chorlton, who denies murder and manslaughter but admits burglary and aggravated vehicle taking, is on trial with Raymond Davies, 21. The court heard Davies drove Gibbons and two other men, who have not been caught, to the crime scene, before later picking Gibbons up again. Davies, also of Chorlton, denies manslaughter and aggravated vehicle taking but admits burglary.
Gibbons claims he was ‘totally unaware even of the presence of Mr Samwell’.
But Mr Webster said: ‘That’s a simple, downright lie. Just imagine reversing over a body. Even if you were panicking, could you possibly miss it? Mike Samwell was 5ft 11in tall and weighed just under 14 stone.’
The court heard police are continuing to pursue the other two men involved. The trial, which is expected to last at least three weeks, continues.