Jury retires in trial of Black Country truck driver accused of crushing girlfriend against lamppost

The jury in the trial of a truck driver accused of murdering his teenage girlfriend by crushing her against a lamppost has retired to consider its verdicts.

Mohammed Azim, who is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, denies using his truck as a weapon to murder 19-year-old Lily Whitehouse on his 41st birthday on November 5 last year, just months after she gave birth to a premature baby that was fathered by another man.

Prosecutors allege Ms Whitehouse, who had just been to visit her baby in a neonatal intensive care unit, was crushed against a lamppost in Old Park Lane, Oldbury, by Azim’s Mercedes Sprinter vehicle, causing fatal chest injuries.

After Ms Whitehouse was injured, Azim, who was in an on-off relationship with the victim since 2023, is alleged to have picked her up and put her in his truck while dialling 999 and claiming he had seen her hit by another vehicle that did not stop at the scene.

He stopped the truck in nearby Park Street and put her on the pavement before the emergency services arrived – and after paramedics and police found Azim’s story about a hit-and-run “strange”, he was arrested on suspicion of murder.

In his evidence to the court, Azim, of Tividale Road, Tipton, admitted he lied about the hit-and-run because he panicked, and claimed he hit Ms Whitehouse accidentally as he tried to leave after dropping her off near her home.

Prosecutors claim Azim’s version of events is an “act” and that the pair were arguing on the night of Ms Whitehouse’s death.

CCTV from a nearby school that had audio captured the sound of Azim’s recovery truck idling just out of view of the camera for around 16 minutes before the truck comes into view and Ms Whitehouse is seen walking quickly along the road on the driver’s side.

“The defendant is driving the truck as if he was nudging or pushing her along the road,” Rachel Brand KC, prosecuting, told the court.

“Lily started running, the vehicle is pursuing her at a low speed but, nevertheless, we say he was clearly using that large, heavy vehicle as a weapon.”

As the truck goes out of view, a “large bang” is heard on the CCTV, Ms Brand said, which the prosecution suggest was the truck striking a lamppost.

She said: “We believe she was crushed against a lamppost, perhaps with the driver’s door of the truck open at the time.”

A Home Office pathologist found Ms Whitehouse had suffered injuries predominantly to her right side while in an upright position, including a broken upper arm, fractured ribs, a laceration to her liver and traumatic injuries to her chest, which caused “severe bleeding” and led to her death.

Giving evidence during the trial, Ms Whitehouse’s aunt Melissa Wheeler told the jury her niece had met Azim when she was 16 or 17 after they exchanged numbers in West Bromwich High Street and began a relationship.

During questioning by junior prosecution counsel Robert Price, Ms Wheeler agreed that the victim had been “besotted” with Azim but that the pair would fight a lot and the defendant would sometimes block Ms Whitehouse when she tried to speak to him.

She said she was aware that Azim was not the father of Ms Whitehouse’s baby and he was “not happy” that she was pregnant so she would hide her bump with long clothing when she visited or stayed with him.

Ms Wheeler said her niece went into labour 10 weeks early after she fell to ground when Azim “sped off” in his vehicle.

Libby Higgs, a friend of the victim, told the jury that Ms Whitehouse confided in her that Azim would say “vile” things to her and would punch her, which he claimed was playfighting.

In his evidence, Azim denied ever being violent to Ms Whitehouse and said he was the only person who supported her after she fell out with her family.

Explaining his version of events on the night Ms Whitehouse was fatally injured, he said he picked her up after she got off a bus from Russells Hall Hospital and was going to drop her home in Amber Drive, Oldbury.

Ms Whitehouse allegedly asked him to sit with her for 10 minutes before she went home, so he pulled up in Old Park Lane nearby because it was a wider road for his van and the two chatted and scrolled on their phones.

He said they had not argued and Ms Whitehouse simply did not want to go home so asked if she could stay with him.

Azim said he told her no as he was tired and had to get up early for work, but she tried to stop him by going in front of the van.

He started to drive slowly to the left to go around Ms Whitehouse, he said, but had to swerve back to the right because of parked cars.

In his evidence, Azim told the jury: “I hear a bang at the back. It could have been Lily jumping on the truck. I felt something bump the back.

“I feel the back tyres, like something come under the tyre or something drop under the tyre. I slammed the brake and straight away stopped.

“I looked back and saw Lily on the floor in the middle of the road.”

The court heard Azim came to the UK in 2001 from Pakistan around the age of 14 and went to college and worked in takeaway restaurants to learn English.

He was married in 2007 but had been single and living alone since his marriage ended in 2015.

The defendant told the jury Ms Whitehouse relied on him for support and that she did not have many friends, so would text and call him often while he was working.

Sending the jury of seven men and five women out to begin their deliberations on Thursday morning (June 18), Judge Mr Justice Murray said they must concentrate on reaching a unanimous verdict.

He said: “You should feel under no pressure of time. Take all the time you need to carry on your deliberations and return your verdict.”