Man, 30, who rammed his truck into two e-bike riders after thinking they were breaking into his house is found guilty of murder

By REBECCA CAMBER, CRIME AND SECURITY EDITOR[1]

Published: 20:04, 10 September 2025 | Updated: 20:27, 10 September 2025

A driver has been convicted of murdering two e-bike[2] riders after ramming them with his truck in the mistaken belief they had tried to break into his home.

Alex Rose, 30, deliberately crashed into William Birchard, 21, and Darren George, 22, while driving the wrong way down a motorway slip road as he thought the victims had attempted to steal from him.

Earlier that night, Rose, 30, was at his home in Sunbury, Surrey when he saw 'movement in the darkness' and believed someone was trying to burgle his property at 11.40pm on July 21 last year.

Furious, the landscape gardener called his friend Charles Pardoe, 25, and together they went looking for the culprits.

The pair had been searching the local area for an hour in the darkness when they spotted the two innocent victims who had gone out to meet a friend at a pub on an e-bike.

Jurors heard that the victims had not been anywhere near Rose's home at the time of the attempted break-in, but he wrongly assumed they were responsible.

Rose chased them in his Ford Raptor pick-up truck through Sunbury at speeds of over 60mph in 30mph areas, before ploughing into the two men.

Mr Birchard died at the scene and his friend died of catastrophic head injuries a short time later.

William Birchard, 21, (pictured) and Darren George, 22, died after Alex Rose, 30, deliberately crashed into them on a motorway slip road

On Wednesday, Rose and his friend Charles Pardoe were both convicted of murder at Guildford Crown Court

Following the crash, Rose dumped his truck in a street, before rushing home on foot.

He later called police to pretend his car had been stolen from his home.

Rose then attempted to flee the country with his girlfriend, Tara Knaggs, 24.

On their journey to Birmingham Airport, she attempted to book flights to Thailand unsuccessfully on her phone, before securing one-way flights for the pair of them to Istanbul.

But the couple were arrested by police in the departure lounge before they could board the flight.

Knaggs claimed that she was on a surprise trip for her birthday arranged by Rose.

But the pair were found with no luggage, only GBP4,000 in cash.

On Wednesday, Rose and Pardoe were both convicted of murder at Guildford Crown Court.

Knaggs was also found guilty of assisting an offender.

The incident took place on the A316 southbound slip road onto the M3 shortly after midnight on July 22 last year

Mary Walford, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Two men lost their lives as a result of Alex Rose wrongly believing that they were going to break into his property.

'This was a tragic case of the two victims simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

'Despite the defendants claiming that what happened that night was an accident, it was clear from the evidence that it was not.

'Rose used his car as a weapon and drove it deliberately at the e-bike in the mistaken belief that they had tried to steal from him, after systemically searching for them for an hour, before pursuing them at high speed.

'Pardoe did nothing to stop him committing murder and actively encouraged Rose in his search until its tragic conclusion.'

References

1. ^ REBECCA CAMBER, CRIME AND SECURITY EDITOR (www.dailymail.co.uk)
2. ^ e-bike (www.dailymail.co.uk)