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A woman who dragged her fiancé under her car after a row at a party has been convicted of murder.
Alice Wood, 23, had denied killing Ryan Watson, 24, near the home they shared in Rode Heath, Cheshire, on 6 May 2022.
But after a trial at Chester Crown Court, the jury found Wood guilty.
She hit Mr Watson with her Ford Fiesta, before dragging him for 158 metres underneath it, after he had “clicked” with another woman at the party to celebrate a 60th birthday.
In a statement read to the court, Mr Watson’s family said they had finally got justice for their “beloved son”.
Wood had denied murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, claiming Mr Watson’s death had been a “tragic accident”.
The philosophy student had told her trial she did not realise he was trapped underneath her car when she drove up Sandbach Road, before stopping.
Just before Mr Watson’s death, Wood had accused him of flirting with another woman at the party, held in Hanley to celebrate the birthday of a service user of the charity he worked for.
Victim driven at three times
There had also been tension between the pair – who had both been drinking alcohol – as they argued over who was driving home, the prosecution had told the court.
Wood then decided she would drive them to their home on Oak Street in Rode Heath, Cheshire Police said.
She then got into her own Fiesta as Mr Watson walked around the vehicle, with neighbours reporting hearing shouting, doors slamming, and a car engine revving.
CCTV showed the Fiesta reversing towards Mr Watson, just missing him. Seconds later, Wood drove at him again, knocking him onto the car’s bonnet, said police.
He walked away from that collision, before she drove at him a third time, when he was dragged underneath it.
After dragging Mr Watson along the road, Wood then stopped, and asked a nearby resident “please phone an ambulance, I think I’ve run over my boyfriend”.
‘No sentence long enough’
Wood showed no emotion as the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty.
Judge Michael Leeming told the defendant she “may never be released” from prison.
He said: “There is only one sentence that the law allows and that is life imprisonment”.
Wood is due to be sentenced on 29 January.
In their statement, Mr Watson’s family said: “Alice is in prison where she belongs.
“But no sentence is going to be long enough for what she has taken from us and Ryan, he’ll never get to live his life and fulfil his dreams.”
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