Row at Asda over disabled parking bay led to man being killed, court hears

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/10/row-asda-disabled-parking-bay-man-killed-watts-holmes

Version 0 of 1.

A man who attacked a former cancer patient in an argument over a disabled parking space killed him "in a moment of madness", a court has heard.

Alan Watts, 65, of Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, is on trial at Luton crown court for the manslaughter of 64-year-old Brian Holmes after allegedly having a row in a supermarket car park on August 3.

Holmes, from Sandy in Bedfordshire, died at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, the day after the confrontation in the car park of the Biggleswade branch of Asda. Just days before the incident, he had been told he had beaten cancer.

Watts has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, claiming self-defence. But crown prosecutor Ann Evans told the court during her opening address that Watts goaded Holmes after seeing his car was parked in a disabled parking bay before setting on him in an unprovoked attack.

Evans said Holmes had returned to the car without his wife, Christine, who has rheumatoid arthritis, when Watts shouted sarcastically: "You look like you need a wheelchair."

Evans said: "This is a case about how a moment of madness can change people's lives forever.

"The defendant, in a show of extraordinary violence, lashed out at Brian Holmes at a car park in Asda and killed him with a punch to the head."

Evans said CCTV footage, which she played to the jury, showed Watts punch Holmes twice in a "right-left combination" before the victim dropped to the ground.

Watts then got back into his vehicle and drove away, she said.

Evans said Watts had told police he was acting in self-defence because Holmes had tried to pull him out of his car and had grabbed his wrists. The prosecutor said Watts claimed Holmes was "effing and blinding" and suspected he was drunk.

Watts told police he left the scene immediately because he wanted to get his wife home and "didn't know whether he was going to be attacked again", Evans said.

But the prosecutor said it would be up to the jury to decide whether it was reasonable to believe Holmes was the aggressor, particularly given he had recently received positive medical news.

"Here is a man who was recently given the all-clear from cancer," she said. "Does he, as Mr Watts suggest, lose it?"

The trial continues.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.