Powys: Stephen McHugh found guilty of Rebecca Steer murder

A jury has found Stephen McHugh guilty of the murder of Rebecca Steer, from Llanymynech in Powys, at Stafford Crown Court. 

He has also been found guilty of causing Kyle Roberts grievous bodily harm on Thursday (May 4). 

The jury of six women and six men took more than eight hours to reach the majority verdict accepted by trial judge Justice Andrew Baker.  

Liverpool-born McHugh, 28, was found guilty after a seven-day trial and two days of deliberations which began on Tuesday, May 2, and lasted eight hours and 29 minutes. He will now be sentenced at the same court on Friday (May 5).  

The defendant, who lives in Artillery Road, Park Hall, had said that he ‘only wanted to scare’ a group of people outside Grill Out in Willow Street on October 9, last year.  

However, a jury has decided that he intended to hurt someone when he mounted the kerb in the Volvo car he had bought in north Wales two weeks previously and drove over Miss Steer, 22, from Llanymynech, leading to her death hours later.

The case hinged upon McHugh's claim that when he drove onto the pavement outside the popular eaterie, he had only been intending to scare the group of onlookers on the pavement. He had admitted manslaughter but denied murder on these grounds.

But the jury concluded that he had intended to drive into the group, and as such was guilty of Ms Steer's murder. Rebecca was an innocent bystander caught up in the horror, and was dragged underneath the car as McHugh fled the scene. She died two hours later at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The jury heard from McHugh's two passengers - Alex Coulson and Kyle Dwyer - that there had been angry exchanges within the car after the incident. Mr Dwyer even told the court that he had run from the car as he feared for his own safety.

Willow Street in Oswestry. (Image: Press Association)

He described Mr Coulson as angrily accusing McHugh of ruining both their lives - and the life of another, meaning Rebecca.

Court heard over a number of days from witnesses who were outside Grill Out, including Hayden Lloyd, who had been involved in an earlier altercation with McHugh and Mr Coulson in Festival Square. That had culminated in McHugh kicking one of Mr Lloyd's friends in the face - an act which the defendant insisted was an attempt to "defuse" the situation.

READ MORE: LIVE: Jury finds Stephen McHugh guilty of Rebecca Steer's murder

Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty KC said McHugh had "angrily" reversed back towards the group outside Grill Out after hearing abuse shouted at him, but he denied that. He admitted intending to mount the kerb but said he was just trying to scare the group - a suggestion that was treated with a raised eyebrow by the prosecutor in his summing up to the jury.

The CCTV captured McHugh stopping in the road and exchanging words with a group of people near the Grill Out takeaway.

Mr Hegarty told the court: “At that moment Rebecca Steer was crossing Willow Street.

“All of a sudden, as she was crossing, the Volvo shot backwards. It narrowly missed her.”

Jurors were told Ms Steer, a much-loved former Llanfyllin schoolgirl and Liverpool University student, managed to get out of the way of the car and made her way to the pavement on the opposite side of Willow Street.

Flowers for Rebecca in Willow Street after the murder. (Image: Barrie White.)

Mr Hegarty added: “At that moment Mr McHugh turned the steering wheel in the direction of the people on the pavement and then he drove on to the pavement towards that group of people.

“The driver’s side of the car went on to the kerb, on to the footpath, and he proceeded to drive through the group.

“We say he used his car as a weapon – he used the power and the weight of the car to strike the group.”

McHugh’s vehicle hit three people, the court heard, including two men who were “knocked aside” by the front wing.

Mr Hegarty told the court: “Rebecca Steer was more towards the front of the car and as the car increased its speed – as it went through the group, she was dragged down under the car.”

Passengers in the car were stunned as they felt the car drive over her body, and sickening evidence was heard in court about a "crunching" sound as the horror unfolded.

The jury was also shown CCTV footage of the crash itself, as well as the moment McHugh - who did not have a drivers' licence and was drunk and on cocaine - was arrested in Gobowen two days later. 

McHugh, originally from Fazakerley in Liverpool, told the court he had drunk six beers and 10 double shots of spirits, and taken up to seven lines of cocaine.

McHugh admitted to the jury that demanding to know "who grassed on me" was "not a good look".

It was only in officers' third attempt to interview him that the 28-year-old was willing to talk about what he had done, but maintained a not guilty plea, and yelled obscenities at jurors as he left the courtroom for the cells. 

He will be sentenced at Stafford tomorrow, the judge confirmed. 

More to follow