'Deliberate' ramming caused fatal crash, jury told

Family members "deliberately" caused a crash in which a four-year-old boy died, his mother has said.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Hayley Maughan looked for her children in the back seat of a pick-up truck after the crash on the A2 in Kent.

But her son, Peter, was thrown from the vehicle and died after the car was "rammed" off the road by her cousin on 1 June last year, jurors were told.

Patrick Maughan, 54, and his son, Owen Maughan, 27, both deny murder.

Hayley said she was "panicking" as her cousin, Owen, and his father, Patrick, "chased" her family-of-four for several miles before their car flipped and crashed.

The court heard how after the crash, Hayley saw Peter face down in grass and screamed for help.

Prosecutor Richard Jory KC told jurors that the pair were "in a fury" before both pick-up trucks left the A2 at Pepper Hill, near Northfleet, with Owen driving into the wrong lane and clipping the other vehicle at about 60mph.

Jory added that the action was "a deliberate ramming at high speed" and Owen "used his car as a weapon".

Hayley was travelling with her partner, Lovell Mahon, who was driving, and their children – Peter and his then one-year-old sister, Annarica Maughan.

In a police interview, Hayley said: "They chased us. We were in fear for our life. We begged them. We told them that the children were in the motor.

"I knew he was going do it. You're not stupid, you're in fear for your life. You've got that gut feeling."

Asked why she was frightened, she said that the pair kept following and it was a "mother's instinct".

Asked if she believed it was deliberate or accidental, she said: "This is a terrible accident what happened, but it's not an accident – it's deliberate."

Hayley said the family had been to McDonald's and were driving around to get the children to sleep because Peter was "not a good sleeper".

Before the chase began, the family was "happy as we always are - happy, laughing, joking," she said.

During the chase, she filmed Owen and Patrick following them and left a voice note for her mother, in which she said she was afraid, jurors heard.

Hayley described Patrick as having a face that was "blood, blood, blood red," adding: "There was like froth coming out of his mouth, he was screaming."

She said Patrick had been "revving" Owen up.

Owen, of Hill Rise, Darenth, has admitted the manslaughter of Peter and causing serious injury by dangerous driving and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mahon.

Patrick, of the same address, denies the charges.

The trial continues.

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