Footballer used BMW as weapon to run over taunting rival supporters, court told
A raging football player ploughed his car into 11 young fans of a rival team after his team lost 5-0 in a grudge derby match, a court heard Monday.
Lee Taylor, 35, allegedly lost his temper after being called “Fatty” by the teenagers – and then drove his grey BMW into the crowd after the final whistle.
A jury heard Taylor “mowed them down like skittles in a bowling alley” – leaving 11 young fans aged between 14 and 19 injured in the “carnage” on the soccer pitch.
The violence flared after Taylor played in the football match for Margam against the reserves of local rivals Cornelly United near Bridgend, South Wales.
Prosecutor Christopher Rees said young fans from the home side of Cornelly were shouting out at players of Taylor’s team before he stormed out to drive his car at them.
Mr Rees said: “There were around 30 to 40 spectators at the game, most of them young persons.”
The court heard one spectator was “giving out playground banter” to the Margam players and a group of young people crowded around the changing room.
Newport Crown Court heard Taylor shouted: “Do you wanna go?” to challenge the fans of the rival team.
Taylor then allegedly jumped into his BMW, reversed out of his parking space before driving at the young fans.
Mr Rees said: “Taylor pointed the nose of the vehicle at the group of young persons, revved and raced his engine, his wheels spun and drove at speed.
“He was knocking them down like skittles in a bowling alley – using his vehicle as a one tonne weapon.
“It was an attack which was out of all proportion with the playground banter which had preceded it.”
He added: “It was a terrifying incident.”
One injured fan heard the car’s “wheels spinning and engine racing” before knocking him 6ft in the air.
Another “saw the BMW coming directly at him” as he heard his friends scream.
The court heard some of the injured were thrown up onto the bonnet of the car as it careered through the young fans – and some fans filmed it on their mobile phones.
Another teenager described himself as “scared and speechless.”
Mr Rees said a witness described the scene as “carnage.”
Victims were allegedly sent flying into the air with one young victim having to jump onto the bonnet before punching at the windscreen in a desperate attempt to get him to stop.
The youngest injured fan was 14 – and later told police he was “frozen in fear” and “thought he was going to die.”
Mr Rees said: “The defendant used his car as a weapon to drive at a group of young people. He caused injury to 11 people in the group he drove at.”
The court heard the car then stopped in the car park – and Taylor allegedly got out to have a fight with one of the injured before “gouging his thumb” into his eye.
Mr Rees said Taylor then drove away “at speed” before being arrested at his home six miles away.
Taylor told police: “I wasn’t going to stay and take a kicking.”
In his police interview Taylor said he was called “fatty” by one of the boys – and he feared he was going “to get a kicking.”
But Mr Rees said his version was very different from the witnesses.
Mr Rees said: “He drove deliberately at these boys. It is by sheer good fortune that the injuries were not more serious than they were.
“He got into his car to drive at the group because he had lost his temper. He knocked them down like skittles.”
Taylor, of Sandfields, Port Talbot, pleaded not guilty to 23 counts which included causing actual bodily harm and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to 11 individuals.
He also denied a count of dangerous driving in April of last year.
Cornelly United play in the South Wales Alliance League 1st division – the sixth tier of Welsh football.
The trial, expected to last two weeks, is continuing.
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