Fiancé denies bust-up claim
The fiancé of a woman allegedly abducted by a bogus taxi driver denied she was trying to get away from him by flagging down a passing car.
James Garland, 26, also denied a claim that he and Stephanie Hammill had fallen out that night.
The warehouse worker said a suggestion that he had taken her off the dance floor in anger at a nightclub after she had made eyes at another man was wrong. He also denied she was flirting with a man at the bar.
It is alleged Ioannis Revenikiotis, 29, formerly of School Crescent, Dewsbury, abducted and killed the 20-year-old travel agent in November 2003 after picking her up on Balne Lane in what she thought was a taxi.
The prosecution suggested his motive was sexual and that Miss Hammill escaped or fell from his moving Mercedes, on Batley Road, Alverthorpe, only to be run over by a car coming the other way. He denies both charges.
But yesterday at Sheffield Crown Court, Revenikiotis's QC Malcolm Swift suggested that Miss Hammill had got into the car of her own free will after the couple had a bust-up.
He said to Mr Garland: "The reason you were lagging behind was because you had fallen out, you were sulking or she was storming off. And she was flagging down any car that would give her a lift away from you."
Mr Garland replied: "No, that's not true."
Mr Swift also asked the witness about Miss Hammill exchanging more than 200 text messages with another man over a four-week period before she died.
The QC asked whether Mr Garland had found out that there was another man on the scene. Mr Garland said no, and denied receiving a tip-off from friends about it.
After the defence cross-examination had finished, prosecutor Alistair MacDonald asked Mr Garland whether he was in love with Miss Hammill or not. An emotional Mr Garland said he was.
Earlier, eye-witness James Durham told the court about the shock of seeing Miss Hammill's body in the road.
He had been travelling in a taxi to Alverthorpe with friends after a night out in Wakefield when he came across the accident scene.
Giving evidence on the sixth day of the trial, he said: "It was a horrendous thing to see."
He comforted a female friend who was very upset at the sight of the body.
The case continues.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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