Student 'left for dead' by driver, court hears (From Your Local Guardian)

Student 'left for dead' by driver, court hears

10:48am Tuesday 16th October 2007 in News By Sarah Newstead

A former Gumley House head girl was "left for dead" after being deliberately mown down in the street, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

Student Kate Sheedy, 18, was returning to her Isleworth home after a night out with friends when she was attacked. She was left with a collapsed lung, fractured collar bone, broken ribs and damage to her liver.

Levi Bellfield, 39, from West Drayton, denies murdering French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, and Hampton teenager, Marsha McDonnell, 19, plus five charges against three other women including Miss Sheedy.

Brian Altman, prosecuting, told the court Miss Sheedy had been celebrating the end of her A-level studies in Twickenham's pubs on May 27, 2004. She and her friends had visited the Sorting Rooms pub, now the William Web Ellis, and the Hobgoblin, now the Grand Union, in London Road.

Miss Sheedy caught the H22 bus alone at 12.20am with the intention of returning to her home in Worton Road. But when she got off the bus she noticed a white vehicle with blacked out windows parked nearby with its lights off and engine running.

Mr Altman said: "She sensed that something was not right about this vehicle. She crossed over the road.

"But what Kate did not know was that it had been stalking her before she even got off the bus."

The court heard the car switched on its lights, turned and drove at Miss Sheedy at speed as she crossed from a traffic island in the mouth of Heath Road.

Mr Altman continued: "Kate attempted to make a dash for it, but the car got to her before she could avoid it.

"It struck her and drove over her. But that did not suffice - it reversed over her before making off at speed in the direction it came."

Residents were said to have heard a bang and a scream but "thought little of it living near a pub" according to Mr Altman.

With massive injuries, Miss Sheedy tried to crawl home, but being unable to do so, called her mum Eileen from her mobile phone. She was taken to West Middlesex Hospital and was not discharged until around a month later.

The court heard Miss Sheedy, who had hoped to go to university later that year, still bears a scar from the attack and "continues to suffer severe and lasting psychological effects".

The prosecution alleges that Miss Sheedy was run over by Bellfield in a white Toyota Previa he used for his wheel clamping business.

The court heard Bellfield bought a Previa in May 2003, which he later sold on. An associate also told police that the Isleworth-born Bellfield had the Privia valeted in June 2004, even though it belonged to someone else.

Mr Altman said the wheel clamper had strong links to the area. He had been a doorman at the Sorting Rooms in May 2004 and at the Hobgoblin earlier that year.

He had arranged finance in 2002 for the Vauxhaull Corsa the prosecution claim is linked to the murder of Marsha McDonnell, at Direct Finance in Worton Road.

The prosecution drew parallels with the murder of Miss McDonnell, who was clubbed over the head from behind with a blunt instrument just yards from her Hampton home in 2003. Mr Altman said the Previa behaved in a similar manner to the Corsa, "stalking" the buses and waiting for victims to alight.

He added: "It is true there is no blunt instrument used to strike Kate Sheedy over the head. But if the prosecution is right, he used a different blunt instrument - that of a car.

"This dreadful crime was the work of no other man than Levi Bellfield."

The court heard that after his arrest in May 2005, Bellfield said what had happened to Miss Sheedy was "despicable" and that he was "showing remorse". He later claimed his comments were down to his poor English vocabulary and that "he meant he was disgusted at being accused of the crime".

The trial continues.