Great Ayton woman convicted of assisting offender in Sunbury murder

Landscape gardener Alex Rose, 30, drove his black pickup truck into 21-year-old William Birchard and 22-year-old Darren George while travelling the wrong way down a motorway slip road in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, in the early hours of July 22 last year. Rose and his friend Charles Pardoe, 25, had chased the victims at speeds topping 60mph after Rose became suspicious when he noticed what he thought was movement behind his house in Manor Gardens earlier that evening. William Birchard (Image: SURREY POLICE) Convinced it was an attempted burglary, he and Pardoe set off in pursuit.

During the chase, Rose was on the phone with his girlfriend, 25-year-old Tara Knaggs from Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, who remained at his property. Following a trial at Guildford Crown Court, Rose and Pardoe were found guilty of two counts of murder by a majority verdict. Knaggs was convicted unanimously of assisting an offender.

A fourth man, 25-year-old Samuel Aspden, who had also been driving around the area that night, was cleared of both murder charges. Darren George (Image: SURREY POLICE) Jurors were told that neither Birchard nor George had gone near Rose's home. In fact, the pair had been heading to a pub in Ashford before encountering Rose and Pardoe at around 12.50am.

Attempting to escape, the two rode their e-bike the wrong way around a roundabout and down the M3/A316 slip road. Rose followed, ramming them from behind with his truck before turning around and driving away, leaving them on the road. A passing lorry driver discovered the injured men.

Birchard died at the scene from catastrophic head and brain injuries, while George succumbed later in hospital. Neither was wearing a helmet. Police arrested Rose and Knaggs later that day at Birmingham Airport, while Pardoe and Aspden were detained two days afterwards.

Mary Walford, senior crown prosecutor for CPS South East, said: "Two men lost their lives because Alex Rose wrongly believed they were trying to break into his property. "This was a tragic case of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Despite the defendants' claims that it was an accident, the evidence showed otherwise.

Rose deliberately used his vehicle as a weapon, hunting for them for an hour before chasing them down at high speed.

"Pardoe encouraged him throughout and did nothing to prevent the killings."

The defendants will be sentenced at a later date.