Express & Star

Jailed for 21 years: Driver guilty of pensioner's Christmas Day murder

A driver was sentenced to 21 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering a pensioner, who was knocked down and dragged by a van on Christmas Day.

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Josef Moscicki hit 83-year-old Bernard James Smith with his Ford Transit van in Burns Avenue, Stafford, dragging him more than 650ft under the vehicle, and returned to run him over again.

Mr Smith suffered broken arms, a broken leg, there were fractures to his breast bone, ribs and spine, ligaments were torn and he suffered significant brain injury, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard during a trial.

He had been walking to his home in Shakespeare Road from Highfields Social Club.

Today, Moscicki, 23, was found guilty or murder by a 10-2 majority at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Police at the scene on Christmas Day last year

The trial heard how Moscicki drove away from the scene as Mr Smith was injured and unconscious in the road, before returning and deliberately driving over Mr Smith's legs in front of eye witnesses.

Moscicki, of Little Acres, Gorse Ride North, Wokingham, Berkshire, had denied murder but admitted death by dangerous driving.

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