Father of two 'mowed down and killed by thieves for £5 car radio'

A father was mown down and killed as he tried to stop thieves stealing a car stereo worth £5, a court heard yesterday.

Balbir Mathuru saw one of the men break into his work van – so he banged on the bonnet of their getaway car and told them to stop.

But Albert Willett, 26, and his brother Tommy, 24, drove straight at the 55-year-old, who clung to the bumper, it was alleged.

He was dragged 40 yards before he fell off. When Mr Mathuru finally fell under their Ford Mondeo, it would have felt "like driving over a speed bump", the Old Bailey was told.

Months later, when the alleged murder was reconstructed on BBC's Crimewatch, the Willetts, both drug addicts, bragged about the killing to junkie friends, the jury heard.

Crispin Aylett, QC, prosecuting, said the brothers had been driving around looking to steal from cars and vans on January 12, 2006.

One of them broke into Mr Mathuru's Mercedes Sprinter van at about noon. He added: "Mr Mathuru was working nearby and saw what was going on – and called out and ran across the road to where the van was parked. The thief ran back to the green Mondeo and jumped in ready to be driven away.

"Mr Mathuru was not prepared to let them escape. He stood in front of the van and banged on the bonnet with his hand.

"The car at this point was stationary. Mr Mathuru no doubt expected the car not to move. But the older brother wasn't having it.

"They were so desperate not to get caught for a fairly trivial offence, they were prepared to commit a terrible one. They simply moved on.

"The car then drove over Mr Mathuru. But even that was not enough to make them stop. They left Mr Mathuru lying in the road."

Mr Aylett said the brothers then "went on with the rest of their lives". He added: "When you hear all the evidence you may think that at the time and afterwards, they simply did not give a damn.

"Mr Mathuru was a hard-working, family man who had the misfortune to cross the path of the Willett brothers."

The car stereo's fascia was left behind by the thieves, the court heard. "So Mr Mathuru was killed for what? A car radio that, no doubt, would have been sold in a pub for £5."

For three years, Mr Mathuru, his wife Sukhvinder and two children, in their twenties, had worked six days a week for a family friend who ran a builders' merchant and double-glazing business in Stratford, East London, near the crime scene.

Mrs Mathuru, who was married for 30 years, found her husband in the road, but he died in hospital of a heart attack. He had 25 injuries.

She sobbed as she told the court: "I saw my husband lying across (the ground).

"I told my daughter to come quickly because somebody has killed Dad."

The brothers took their Mondeo to a scrapyard, it is alleged.

When the Willetts were first arrested, in July 2006, they denied the crime, but officers bugged their cell, said the prosecutor.

"Albert Willett was heard to say, 'What if they get us on camera when we went to the scrapyard? What shall we say? Someone gave us the car to break the engine?'."

Mr Aylett said that after the killing was featured on Crimewatch, "the older brother had been excited by the notoriety of their crime".

He added: "They seemed to think they had attained some kind of celebrity. And Tommy in particular was only too happy to boast of his involvement in running down Mr Mathuru."

The brothers, formerly of the Clays Lane traveller camp, in Stratford, East London – which has been demolished to make way for Olympics development – deny murder. The trial continues.