Published: 14:14 June 30, 2022
Updated: 4:04 PM on June 30, 2022
A teenager was crushed to death after being turned over and driven by her father, the court heard.
Nigel Malt, 44, is on trial in Norwich Crown Court after denying the murder of his daughter Lauren Malt.
Nigel Malt faces trial after denying murder of his daughter Lauren – Credit: Shutterstock
The 19-year-old was pronounced dead on January 23 this year after being run over by a Malt Mercedes car in Leith Way, West Winch shortly before 7:30 p.m.
Andrew Jackson, opening the case at the prosecutor’s office on Thursday (June 30th), said Nigel Malt “turned around in his car and knocked down his daughter”.
He said: “After knocking her to the ground, he turned his car in reverse over her.
“He stopped and then drove the car over her body.”
Lauren Malt was “practically crushed to death” during the incident, which Mr Jackson said happened after Malt threatened his daughter’s boyfriend, Arthur Marmel, with a lever.
Lauren’s screams when she was run over by Malt were heard by the jury, which played audio and video recordings of part of the incident, filmed by terrified neighbors.
Jackson told the jury, “What you heard was the sound of what the prosecution says is no less than murder.”
He said Malt was “using his car as a deadly weapon”.
He added: “A car, when driven at speed, when driven over another person, will inevitably cause death or really serious damage.
“It’s simple common sense.”
Police conducted house-to-house investigations after Lauren Malt died in West Winch – Credit: Chris Bishop
The seven men and seven women on the jury – two of whom will be released after the opening – heard during the incident, Malt was “estranged” from his family, including his wife Karen and daughter Lauren.
Mr Jackson said the relationship he had with his wife was “marked by drinking, drug use, anger and the threat of violence by the accused”.
After separation. Malt Karen’s wife, his daughter Lauren, and her other siblings lived together at her grandmother’s home in Leith Way.
By the spring of 2021, Malt had twice assaulted his wife, resulting in his arrest and release on bail not to contact or visit his wife, who worked in a West Winch store.
Mr Jackson said Malt felt “wronged” because his wife had left him and taken their children with her.
Nigel Malt is on trial for the murder of his daughter Lauren, who was killed after being hit by a car in Leith Way, West Winch – Credit: Daniel Buden
He said that until January 23 this year, the defendant’s relationship with his family had been “broken”, but “this is something he was not ready to accept”.
Malt had gone to the store where his estranged wife worked, although he was forbidden to do so.
He heard Lauren call her mother and ask if she could take her sister to the store.
Malt said he would go get her, but Karen didn’t want to because she didn’t like her boyfriend, but he did.
Mr Jackson said: “In the way he has driven, he has taken the path of anger and destruction.”
He had gone to Leete Way to knock on his daughter’s door, but she wouldn’t let him in, and he returned to the store, where his wife “could tell he was drinking.”
Nigel Malt is on trial for the murder of his daughter Lauren, who was killed after being hit by a car in Leith Way, West Winch – Credit: Daniel Buden
Between 18.25 and 18.52 he tried to call his daughter 19 times, but all calls went unanswered.
Mr Jackson said: “Prosecutors say his anger has escalated so far.”
He told his wife that he had “a lever in the car and would use it if he had to.”
He tried three more times to call his daughter and at 19:14 she answered.
After a call lasting just over a minute, the defendant drove to Leete Way.
He arrived at 7:21 p.m. and, armed with a lever, began arguing with Lauren and her friend.
Malt threatened Lauren’s boyfriend with a lever, but he managed to escape.
Lauren had gone behind the car “as if to stop the defendant from returning to pick up Arthur.”
Nigel Malt faces trial on murder of his daughter Lauren, who was killed after a car crash in Leith Way, West Winch – Credit: Archant 2022
The car then reversed at Lauren’s speed before heading over it.
Mr Jackson said it was a deliberate act aimed at doing maximum harm.
The court then heard how, although he was told to leave Lauren where he was and to wait for the emergency services, Malt picked up his daughter unconscious and placed her in the front passenger seat of his car.
He then took her to his wife in the store.
Mr Jackson said Malt’s arrival at the scene, Lauren’s boyfriend’s threat and then his daughter’s run-over took about four minutes.
Malt, of Lynn Road, King’s Lynn, is represented by Allison Summers QC.
The process continues.
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