Man ‘run over and killed’ after offering to mow woman’s lawn for £7.50, court told

A man was brutally run over and killed after he allegedly upset his murderer's mother after offering to mow her lawn for £7.50, a court was told.

Liam Green, 45, was killed after he was struck down by a white VW Touareg on Rose Tree Avenue, in Cudworth, Barnsley, on the evening of April 3 earlier this year.

Three people, Mark Wigley, 60, his daughter Sarah Wigley, 39, and his brother-in-law Neil Shaw, 54, all of Royston Road, Cudworth, are accused of his murder, which they all deny.

A trial into Mr Green's death started yesterday (Oct 5) at Sheffield Crown Court.

Prosecutor Tom Storey KC said the Wigley family meant to “teach him a lesson” for upsetting their Mark Wigley’s mum and Sarah Wigley’s grandma.

He told the court: “On April 3, Liam Green was trying to find some work and hoping to make a bit of money by offering to mow lawns on a row of houses on Rose Tree Avenue.

“But unfortunately, one of the houses he knocked on was the home belonging to Louise Jean Wigley, the Wigley family’s grandmother.

“For whatever reason, the defendants took exception to his approach and set off to the estate where Liam Green lived, and their intent was to make him leave their grandmother alone and to teach him a lesson.”

The court heard evidence of messages exchanged on Facebook between the Wigley family where they shared screenshots from a Ring doorbell camera of Liam at the elderly woman’s door.

It was heard that Green offered to cut the lawn for as little as £7.50.

It is suggested it was not the first time Liam had asked for odd jobs in the area, with messages between family members referring to him as a “smack head” who “needs throttling”.

Shaw was in his blue Range Rover with another man when he received a call from a family member asking him to come to Rose Tree Avenue.

He recounted this to his passenger by saying “that f*** ing smack head’s back” and “he’s going to get his f*** ing face smashed in,” the court heard.

Sarah Wigley and Shaw arrived on Rose Tree Avenue, where they confronted Liam’s mother at her home, claiming her son had been “badgering” their grandmother for money and they were there to “sort him out”.

Mark Wigley then arrived and told Liam’s mum “I’m going to kick his head in,” jurors heard.

Messages and phone calls between the three defendants will show they spent half an hour looking for Liam and describing what he was wearing,” jurors heard.

Mr Storey said: “After about half an hour they found Liam on Almond Avenue, and it was here Mark Wigley assaulted him by grabbing him by the lapels and banging him against a van.

“A short time later, Liam Green expressed his annoyance about being assaulted for seemingly no reason.

“And the two males tried to drive their vehicles at him in turn on Rose Tree Avenue. Liam jumped out of the way of one of the vehicles, a Range Rover.

“But when he walked in the way of the stationary Volkswagen Touareg, Mark Wigley turned the vehicle on and accelerated, knocking Liam down, running over him and killing him in the process.

“The prosecution says these three defendants were acting together to locate Liam Green and their actions and words show a joint enterprise to kill him or cause him really serious harm.

“The defendants say no such thing, and that what happened was an accident, and they did not mean to cause him really serious harm.”

Emergency services were called to the location, but tragically Liam died at the scene.

Mark Wigley, Sarah Wigley and Shaw deny murder and manslaughter and will claim Liam Green had been “scaring old folks in their homes,” jurors heard.

All three later denied intending to cause Green serious harm.

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.