Chilling footage shows car chasing e-bikes before horror crash which killed mother-of-one, 25: Drug dealer is cleared of murder
A mother and her boyfriend are chased along a road on their e-bike by a Land Rover which was used as a 'weapon' to knock them off, killing her and seriously injuring him.
The footage of Keaton Muldoon at the wheel of the two-and-a-half tonne 4X4 was released yesterday after the drug dealer, who has previously admitted death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was cleared of Alana Amrstrong's murder.
The mother-of-one died last November in a country lane outside Pleasley, Derbyshire, when she 'went over the whole car' after Muldoon, 23, made five attempts to ram the bike she was riding, a jury heard.
Det Con Natalie Barnett, from Derbyshire Police's major crime unit, told the court a doorbell camera captured Ms Armstrong, 25, and Mr Newton-Kay leaving an address in Tibshelf, Derbyshire, that evening on one electric bike, with another man, James Gilbert, on a separate bike.
The two CCTV clips released by police were shown to the jury at Derby Crown Court and show the two bikes being 'followed' by the vehicle on the unlit lane.
The court heard the last piece of footage was captured one minute before GPS from Mr Newton-Kay's phone showed his bike had stopped at the site of the crash.
DC Barnett said the GPS data showed that Mr Newton-Kay's bike, with Ms Armstrong riding pillion, went past Muldoon's vehicle,which was stopped in a layby, just before 20:00 GMT.
The officer said: 'The movements show that the phone has then gone back towards the lay-by.
'The phones and the bikes are then beginning to move back down Sampsons Lane towards the incident.'
Ms Armstrong, who had a six-year-old son, suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Newton-Kay, was taken to hospital where he later had to have his leg amputated below the knee.
Following the incident, Muldoon drove off from the scene without stopping, juors heard.
He handed himself into police the following week after a police media appeal.
During his police interview he denied being the driver at the time of the collision and named another person he said was responsible.
Muldoon, 23, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was cleared of murder and causing Mr Newton-Kay grievous bodily harm with intent.
He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving before his trial began in May.
His sentencing date has not been fixed by the court.
Muldoon, who the court heard was a drug dealer, told the jury of 11 women and one man on Tuesday that he 'did not know' he had hit anyone on the evening of November 26 last year, and thought he had overtaken Mr Newton-Kay's bike at a passing point.
But the prosecution alleged that Muldoon 'pursued' the couple, and Mr Gilbert on the second electric bike after the trio had stopped near the defendant's 4x4 at the lay-by.
Sally Howes KC, prosecuting, said Muldoon then started chasing the two bikes.
She said the 'close pursuit', which lasted for 1.1 miles, ended up with Muldoon using his 'much larger, heavier' Land Rover Discovery Mk3 as a 'weapon' and knocking his victims from the bike before leaving them for dead.
Jurors were told that in the immediate aftermath of the collision, he was heard by a woman he had earlier been selling the drugs to saying: 'Oh s***. Oh for f**** sake. I was only meant to knock them off the bike.'
Mr Newton-Kay told police Muldoon rammed his bike four times before succeeding in knocking them off on the fifth attempt.
Describing his recollection of the collision, Ms Howes told the court: 'He said he watched Alana go over the bonnet and roll over the whole car, and she had ended up flying backwards and watched her go over the whole car.'
Mr Newton-Kay said the vehicle then drove over him, before continuing its pursuit of Mr Gilbert.
Ms Howes said he told the police he managed to just avoid also being knocked off by riding up grass banking at the side of the road, with the Land Rover Discovery then 'flying past' and driving away.
She added: 'He managed to gather his wits and flew back down the lane in search of friends', where he found the pair lying in the road.
The defendant told the court he feared he was going to be robbed but did not 'chase' the Sur-Ron off-road bike for more than a mile from the lay-by in Sampsons Lane, Pleasley.
Muldoon, who was father to a newborn baby at the time of the collision, told the court he lied to police that his uncle had possession of the Land Rover at the time of the collision because he was 'scared' about the murder investigation.
He told the jury earlier this week: 'My head was all over, I didn't know what to think.
'I knew I wasn't going to see my children for a bit. I just had a newborn baby. I promised I would always be there.'
Detective Constable Stevie Barker, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, who was the officer in the case, said: 'Alana was just 25 when she died, leaving her son without his mum, and her family grieving the loss of a young woman who had so much life ahead of her.
'The consequences of Muldoon's behaviour on that night have led to the death of Alana and a lifetime of grief for her family. In addition, Jordan, the rider of the bike, also suffered life-changing injuries.
'He then didn't even have the decency to admit what he had done in interview, instead trying to put the blame on someone else. It was months later before he accepted that he was the driver of the vehicle.
'My thoughts – and those of all of the officers involved in this tragic case- remain with the families of Alana and Jordan.'
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