THE man accused of Rebecca Steer’s murder demanded to know ‘who had grassed on him’ and was on cocaine before the incident, a court has heard.  

Stephen McHugh, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, admits Ms Steer's unlawful killing and causing Kyle Roberts actual bodily harm on Sunday, Oswestry 9 last year, but is on trial for murder and grievous bodily harm, which he denies.  

On the fourth day of his trial at Stafford Crown Court, the jury was shown police body-worn camera footage as part of agreed facts between the prosecution and defence.  

McHugh was arrested at a property in Gobowen by officers on Monday, October 10 and, according to the footage, told them to ‘chill’ and to ‘stop being aggressive’ as he was being handcuffed.  

The defendant frequently told officers to ‘chill’ and that he had no intention to run away from that because ‘there’s two of you’.  

READ MORE: LIVE: Day Four of the Rebecca Steer murder trial

Mr Williams also told the court that McHugh had told officers, when informed he was being arrested for murder, that he ‘didn’t mean to do it’ and ‘that he wouldn’t kill anyone intentionally’. 

But he also angrily demanded to know how police knew where he was, making an accusation that someone had ‘grassed’ on him.

In the agreed facts, it was heard that McHugh told officers he had taken cocaine around three hours before the incident that killed Miss Steer and injured Mr Roberts.  

County Times:

McHugh also admitted to smoking cannabis and drinking heavily since the prior Saturday (October 8) when he was sick in a West Mercia Police holding cell, adding that he had not eaten in that time.

Mr Williams also added that, according to the agreed facts, McHugh also told officers that he ‘can’t believe it’s a young girl as he’s got a young daughter himself’.  

The court also heard that Miss Steer died around 4am on Sunday, October 9 after medical staff could not revive her at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital 

Mr Williams said that she had received traumatic skull, chest and leg injuries and that both members of the public and medical staff gave her CPR immediately after McHugh’s Volvo passed over her.

Earlier, jurors watched a compilation of CCTV footage that charted McHugh’s movements across the Saturday night, and then focused on his actions up to and after the incident.  

The jury was shown that McHugh – who had earlier been described as a ‘fast, unsafe driver’ – performed a similar manoeuvre to the stop, reverse and forwards movement he made in Willow Street just minutes later.

They had also seen footage of him driving at excessive speeds around the town and had earlier been told that the Volvo had only been bought around two weeks previously.  

McHugh, who does not have a licence, had reportedly bought the automatic drive car as he struggled with manual, according to a former associate Martin Gumbley, whose statement was read into the record.  

Ian Humphries, a civilian vehicle inspector with West Mercia Police, told the jury that a driver of an automatic car, such as McHugh and the Volvo, would have needed to use a ‘trigger’ to put the car back into drive from reverse.   

The trial continues.