JURORS have heard of the last days of a hit-and-run victim as surgeons battled in vain to save him.
And there was a commotion in the public gallery at Reading Crown Court today, Monday, as the gloating words of his killer were read aloud.
The prosecution was closing its case in the trial of Ryan Willicombe from Home Straight, Newbury, who admits causing death by dangerous driving but denies murdering 19-year-old Sheldon Lewcock in Tilehurst on August 4, 2022.
The court has heard Mr Lewcock had been out motorcycling with friends when Mr Willicombe allegedly used his van as a missile and struck him head on.
He also clipped another youth with his wing mirror, Mr Lewcock’s half brother Kayden Williams, with whom he had been feuding.
Today Philip Evans, prosecuting, read aloud text conversations following the incident between Mr Willicombe, his sister, Ruby, and a friend, Dion Mitchell, as he fled to his grandfather’s house in South Wales.
Mr Mitchell asked: “You all good?”
Mr Willicombe replied: “Man’s calm still.
“Hopefully he dies.”
Mr Mitchell warned: “Trust me but at the same time you don’t want to ride bird, G - not worth it.”
Mr Willicombe retorted: “True; hopefully he paralysed…love, my brother.”
In conversation with his sister, who said she had been attacked by one of the group, Mr Willicombe said: “I can’t believe it - I’m sorry for all this…I’m going to get them, I promise.
“I’m gonna have to move country.
“Be strong; be the warrior I made you to be - you’re strong like me.
“Hopefully Sheldon dies; if he dies, I’ll laugh myself to sleep.”
His sister then informed Mr Willicombe: “Dad’s been arrested…arrested for assisting an offender.”
As he travelled by rail from Newbury to South Wales, Mr Willicombe also texted friends and told one: “They wanted the war.”
Mr Willicombe added: “I can’t go to the slammer - not yet.”
He was arrested after police found him hiding in a cupboard at his grandfather’s house.
There was a disturbance in the public gallery as some of this evidence was read out.
There is a large police presence in the court building, with two officers sat in the gallery among relatives of both the accused and the victim.
Later, Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl outlined the catastrophic injuries suffered by Mr Lewcock.
These included double fractures to each side of the jaw, a fractured breast bone, shattered thighs, shattered shins and a fractured pelvis.
In some of these injuries the broken bones had pierced the skin, the jury heard.
But Mr Lewcock ultimately succumbed, five days later, to systemic fat embolism, whereby marrow fat travels through the body and damages the organs.
This led to multiple organ failure and Mr Lewcock was declared brain dead five days after the incident.
The prosecution is due to rest its case, and the defence begin, tomorrow morning, Tuesday.
Related: Dying hit-and-run victim Sheldon Lewcock asked friend to call his mother, jury told
