Murder trial sees footage of car driving over landlord

Detective Constable Caroline Iley, 31, said the vehicle was seen to reverse and be driven over Steven Curran, who was dragged under it.

She told the High Court in Edinburgh that it was then driven forward and seen to rock a couple of times.

The court heard that provisional licence holder Lee McNamara had left The Dolphin Inn, in Whitecraig, East Lothian, with others but stayed behind after they departed.

Giving evidence, electrician David Falconer, 38, said McNamara had wanted to stay behind and give Mr Curran "a fright".

Mr Falconer said McNamara, 24, later phoned him. "He says he had a fight with Stevie and he was away. He said something about going to an uncle's house."

McNamara has admitted the culpable homicide of Mr Curran, 47, but has gone on trial after denying murdering him at the car park of the pub on October 20 last year.

A statement of agreed evidence was read to jurors which said that after Mr Curran locked up at the pub he walked to the rear car park towards his wife's Toyota Celica car intending to drive home.

But McNamara was waiting for him and punched Mr Curran, who fell to the ground. McNamara sat on top of him and punched him again and took car keys from him.

Plasterer McNamara, of Carberry Court, Whitecraig, went towards the driver's door before walking back to where Mr Curran was lying and kicked him.

He then got into the car which moved backwards and ran over Mr Curran, and his body was dragged underneath the vehicle. The car then moved forwards and drove off, leaving Mr Curran behind.

McNamara later lost control of the Toyota on the A1 near Broxburn, East Lothian, and crashed. Police arrived at the crash scene to find no-one in the car and officers later went to Mr Curran's home and spoke to his wife Jill, who was waiting for her husband to return home from work.

They then drove to the Dolphin Inn and found his body at the rear of the pub. He had died after sustaining chest injuries.

McNamara went to a cottage after the crash asking for the police to be phoned. But he was told the house did not have a telephone and he later approached police at a roundabout on the A1 and identified himself as the driver of the crashed vehicle.

He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after complaining of pain and told a nurse that he had been driving the Toyota at about 120mph at the time of the crash.

Detectives arrived at the hospital and told him they would come back to speak to him, and he became "unsettled and quiet", the jury heard.

McNamara told a nurse that he had been out drinking with friends at the only bar in the village and said the owner had been winding them up and did it all the time.He said he left the bar and waited outside. When the owner came out he had attacked him, taken his keys off him and taken the car.

He said he was quite worried and hoped he was okay and the nurse got the impression that he was quite genuine, the jury was told.

When detectives returned and told him Mr Curran was dead he burst into tears and kept repeating the word "no". He was heard to say: "This will destroy my family."

The trial, before Lady Clark of Calton, continues.