‘I did not have the bottle to come forward’: Sammi Horner denies encouraging Darren Blackmore to drive at three men in North Walsham hit-and-run

Vicarage Street car park in North Walsham. Picture: MARK BULLIMORE (Image: Archant Norfolk 2016)

Sammi Horner, of Market Place, North Walsham, has denied intentionally encouraging or assisting Darren Blackmore during the incident last year.

Norwich Crown Court has heard that the charge related to a hit and run incident in the Vicarage Car Park in North Walsham in the early hours of Saturday, July 23, last year.

Stephen Mather, prosecuting, said that Blackmore drove his Peugeot 307 at the three men causing one of them to be thrown in the air and suffer multiple injuries.

The jury has heard that Blackmore, 43, of Laburnham Close, Wymondham, has admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Horner, 35, has gone on trial as she is alleged to have encouraged Blackmore to drive at the three men.

In police interviews which were read to the jury, Horner said a group of youngsters, including two girls, had robbed her of her bag in a churchyard earlier that evening.

The jury heard she asked Blackmore to pick her up in North Walsham and then without her saying anything he had driven the car at the three men, mistakenly thinking they had something to do with the earlier incident.

She told police in interview that they had nothing to do with her handbag being stolen and said she wished she had come forward to police about the matter before to tell them what happened.

Horner said: 'I am so sorry. I did not have the bottle to come forward.'

She added that she wished the injured man a 'real good recovery.'

Horner said after the hit and run she had been screaming at Blackmore and said that she wanted to get out of the car.

She had asked Blackmore what he was doing and said: 'I was in shock.'

She said she had lost her bank cards, £3 and her keys in the bag theft.

The trial continues.