Murder accused admits lying as he 'panicked'

A recovery truck driver accused of murdering his teenage girlfriend by crushing her against a lamp-post has told a jury he lied about her being involved in a hit-and-run because he "panicked".

Prosecutors allege 19-year-old Lily Whitehouse suffered fatal chest injuries when Mohammed Azim used his flatbed truck "as a weapon" during an argument in Oldbury on his 41st birthday, 5 November.

Azim, of Tividale Road, Tipton, denies murder, telling a jury on Monday he hit her accidentally after dropping her off near her home.

He had initially told police that another vehicle had hit her and driven off.

He told police and paramedics he had seen Whitehouse get hit by a car that left the scene, a story they found "strange".

During the trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, he told the court that he had instead accidentally run her over as he tried go home after meeting her on a street.

Prosecution counsel Rachel Brand KC told him he had lied repeatedly about what had happened and suggested instead he was angry that night and "chased her down the road in your truck".

Azim denied that during the cross examination: "There was no need for me to chase her… when I was about to leave she wanted to come back with me, that's the truth."

Brand said the defendant told the 999 call handler that he had seen her being hit by a car because he was trying to protect himself.

In response, the defendant said he did not believe at the time what had happened and his head was "all over the place".

The prosecutor said Azim lied to doctors in custody, denying to them that he had a romantic relationship with the victim, that he needed an interpreter and that he could not have dropped Whitehouse off at her home in Oldbury that night because there were "drugs people after her".

Azim said he could not remember saying those things because he had been on medication.

Brand accused him of pretending that it was not his fault.

The defendant replied: "No… it didn't feel real to me, my head was all over the place, I panicked."

Asked why he told police after his arrest that he could not remember what had happened to Whitehouse, Azim said: "I wasn't in my control, I was lost, I panicked."

Wiping his eyes with a tissue as he was asked by his defence barrister, Imran Shafi KC, how his mental state was, Azim said he was no longer under observation due to concerns he might take his own life, but was still on medication.

"If I could give my life to bring her back, I would," he added.

The trial continues.

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