Chris Marriott: Everything heard in first week of trial of man accused of murdering Sheffield Good Samaritan

Hassan Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Grimethorpe, Sheffield, faces one count of murder - along with the alternative count of manslaughter - as well as one count of attempted murder, two counts of wounding with intent and four counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He has previously entered not guilty pleas.

Hassan’s father, Mohammed Jhangur is on trial alongside him, accused of a single count of perverting the course of justice. Mohammed Jhangur, aged 56, also of Whiteways Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, denies the one count he faces.

All of the alleged offences arise out of an incident, which took place on College Close, Burngreave on the afternoon of December 27, 2023.

Chris Marriott, aged 46, was hit, and killed, by a car as he stopped to assist Nafeesa Jhangur, one of Hassan Jhangur’s sisters, who was unconscious in the street, while a disturbance was ongoing on the road.

Four others: Riasat Khan; Ambreen Jhangur; Nafeesa Jhangur and passing, off-duty midwife Alison Norris - who also stopped to help the injured woman - were also injured after being hit by the same car.

A sixth individual, Hasan Khan, who had become Hassan Jhangur’s brother-in-law on the morning of the fatal incident, was also injured during the events that unfolded on College Close. Hassan Jhangur is accused of stabbing him, which he denies.

At the conclusion of the first week of the trial, which is expected to run until July 26, here is a summary of the prosecution opening, and the evidence heard by the jury so far.

Prosecution opening

Outlining the Crown’s case against the two defendants to the jury of six men and six women on Tuesday, June 18, 2023, prosecutor, Tom Storey KC, told them that in the moments before the fatal collision, Chris Marriott was on a family walk when he noticed a woman - subsequently identified as Nafeesa Jhangur - ‘lying motionless in the road’ as they approached College Close.

Mr Marriott went over to try and assist the woman, and was joined by off-duty midwife, Alison Norris. She, too, had been on a walk with members of her family. Both Mr Marriott and Ms Norris were knelt down at the woman’s side, as they attempted to help her.

Mr Storey said: “As they tended to the lady lying in the road, a Seat Ibiza motor car, driven by the first defendant, Hassan Jhangur, came around the corner from nearby Scott Road at some speed, and collided head-on with a man standing nearby, Riasat Khan, before then ploughing into the group on College Close, comprising Chris Marriott, Alison Norris, Nafeesa Jhangur – the lady they were tending to – and Ambreen Jhangur – her mother.

“The Seat Ibiza drove right over Chris Marriott, almost certainly killing him instantly; it also drove over Nafeesa Jhangur, who was very seriously injured, and either drove over or collided with both Ambreen Jhangur and Alison Norris, both of whom were also seriously injured.

“Once his vehicle had come to a halt, Hassan Jhangur got out of it, armed with a knife, which he then used to stab the son of Riasat Khan, Hasan Khan, several times to the side of his head and to the left side of his chest, puncturing his lung in the process. Following this, his father, Mohammed Jhangur, the second Defendant, took the knife from him and placed it in the locked boot of his own car, secreting it away from the various police officers who had attended the scene.”

Mr Storey continued: “The prosecution say that Hassan Jhangur’s actions demonstrate that he intended to kill that day: his primary target seems to have been Hasan Khan, but he was clearly prepared to use his car as a weapon, intending to cause at least really serious harm to others.

“Although two of those whom he injured with his car were his own sister and mother, and they were clearly not his intended targets, the law says that your intentions can effectively be transferred from one target to another; so, for example, if you were to fire a gun at someone, intending to kill them, but you missed because your aim was poor, and you instead hit and killed someone else, you would be guilty of murdering that other person.

“Mohammed Jhangur’s subsequent actions in taking the knife from his son and hiding it in the boot of his locked car demonstrate that he was intent on helping his son by removing from the sight of the attendant police officers the weapon with which Hassan Jhangur had stabbed Hasan Khan.”

He continued: “Hassan Jhangur unlawfully killed Chris Marriott, using his vehicle as a weapon, at a time when he intended to cause at least very serious harm. 

“He also caused very serious harm to four other people, again at a time when he intended that consequence, namely to cause really serious harm. And Hassan Jhangur then stabbed Hasan Khan in circumstances which make clear that he intended to kill him.”

“Mohammed Jhangur took the weapon which Hassan Jhangur had wielded against Hasan Khan, and placed it out of sight in the boot of his locked car...the clear inference is that he did so, intending to thwart or hamper the inevitable police investigation, by concealing a key piece of evidence which – so far as he knew – might have had very damaging consequences for his own son and the extent of his involvement in what had occurred at College Close.” Mr Storey said the evidence the prosecution anticipate the jury will hear, and the inferences they will be able to draw from it, will ‘enable them to conclude so that they ‘are indeed sure that the defendants are in fact guilty of the offences with which they are charged’.

Background to the incident

Mr Storey told jurors that a dispute between the Jhangur family and the Khan family, ‘a dispute which centred on a wedding which in fact took place that very morning between Hasan Khan and Amaani Jhangur’ underpins the events with which is the trial is concerned

He continued: “In short, Amaani Jhangur’s family seems to have disapproved of her marriage to Hasan Khan, and so had not attended the wedding ceremony that morning. As you will hear, some of them did, however, turn up at the Khan family home on College Court, as the Khans were in the process of celebrating their son’s marriage to Amaani Jhangur.

“And it is this attendance at the Khan family home which seems to have been the catalyst for the events with which this case is ultimately concerned.”

Mr Storey said Hassan Jhangur’s mother, Ambreen, and his sister, Nafeesa, were the members of his family who ‘turned up’ at the Khan family home, following which an altercation between the two families ensued. Nafeesa Jhangur ‘fell to the floor,’ during the course of the incident and was seen lying motionless in the road after appearing to fall unconscious, jurors have heard.

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Statement from Chris Marriott’s wife, Bryony, describing the last time she saw him alive

This week, the jury have heard a mixture of live evidence from witnesses and witness statements, which have been read out to them.

One such statement was from Chris Marriott’s wife, Bryony, in which she said that the couple’s children were left feeling ‘distressed’ after seeing a woman ‘lying motionless’ in the street. Mrs Marriott said she planned to offer assistance to the woman, but due to their children being upset, Mr Marriott said he would try and assist the woman instead.

As she and her children walked away from the scene, Mrs Marriott said she could hear her husband say to the motionless woman: ‘Hello, hello, can you hear me?’. She said Mr Marriott was on his knees at this point.

Mrs Marriott said she and her children returned to the family home nearby, at which point she realised Mr Marriott had the keys to the house; but she decided to wait there with the children.

“We heard a loud, distressed wailing sound about three or four minutes later,” Mrs Marriott said, adding that she subsequently became aware of police heading to the scene.

After not hearing from Mr Marriott, or receiving an update on the situation, Mrs Marriott said she left the children with a neighbour, returned to College Close, and identified herself to a police officer.

“He asked for a description [of him], and at this point I knew something was wrong.”

It was at that point that Mrs Marriott was taken aside and told that her ‘husband was deceased,’ the court heard.

Live evidence from Alison Norris, one of the five people hit by the car

Ms Norris suffered a fracture to her right fibula after being hit by a car. The charge faced by Hassan Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, in relation to Ms Norris is one of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Giving evidence on Tuesday afternoon (June 18), Ms Norris told the jury that after suffering the injury, her ‘interpretation’ of the events that caused it was that the vehicle had been ‘driven intentionally’ into her and the others injured. She said she believed the car was being driven ‘straight at us’.

“I was terrified the car was going to reverse back over us, or over me, so I crawled onto a grassy area,” said Ms Norris.  

Explaining what had caused her to form that opinion, Ms Norris continued: “I think because there was no change of speed and no change in the direction of the wheels.”

She estimated there was ‘about two seconds’ from ‘seeing’ the vehicle to it ‘being on us’. 

“I was looking straight at the car at that point, and the wheels were not turning,” Ms Norris said, adding that she believed she was ‘parallel’ to the ‘central markings’ on the road at the time.  

She continued: “Somehow I forced myself out of the way, I didn’t even have time to cry out a warning. I just somehow moved, I still don’t know how I did that.” “I got smacked, a blow, and I was flying through the air backwards.”

Live evidence from residents living near to College Close

During the second day of the trial on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, the jury heard live evidence from Lisa Poulton, a resident from a nearby property, which overlooks the junction of College Close and College Court. 

Ms Poulton was on the street when the fatal collision occurred, and described how, in the moments following it, she saw the driver of the vehicle exit the car, appearing to be ‘in shock’. 

“He had his hands on his face, and said: ‘That’s my sister under the car’,” she recalled. 

Ms Poulton said the crowds on the street prior to the collision, were ‘mingling about trying to help’ in the moments following it, when, amid the confusion, a fight ensued. 

“There was shouting and fighting. I couldn’t understand why everyone was screaming and fighting when there was people injured under the car,” Ms Poulton said. 

Ms Poulton said that prior to the collision, she witnessed two Asian women arrive at a property on the street and throw bin liners onto a driveway of a property she knew to be occupied by members of the Khan family, before leaving the scene.

The two women returned a short time later, and did the same thing again, she told the jury. 

Ms Poulton said that the bin liners thrown during the women’s first visit were still there when they arrived on the second occasion, which prompted members of the Khan family to come outside. 

“[There was] lots of shouting and arguing; and they started pushing each other around, fighting…squabbling with each other, and then there was fighting breaking out. They were pushing each other, and everything,” Ms Poulton said. 

Another resident, James Hammond watched the fatal incident unfold from an upstairs window of his home, which also overlooks the junction of College Close and College Court. 

Detailing the moment when Hassan Jhangur is alleged to have driven into a crowd of people on College Close, killing Mr Marriott and injuring four others , Mr Hammond told the jury: “I saw the car on the wrong side of the road, coming into College Close, and aimed at Chris and the young woman,” referring to Mr Marriott and Nafeesa Jhangur, Hassan Jhangur’s sister and the woman seen lying in the road. He continued: “It ploughed straight into them.”

Mr Hammond told the jury that he saw it ‘hit’ Mr Marriott, Alison Norris - the midwife he had observed stopping to assist - and Nafeesa Jhangur. 

When asked by prosecutor Tom Storey KC if he saw the vehicle come to a stop, Mr Hammond said: “It came to a stop…about a foot away from my front door…on my lawn under my front window.”

In the seconds prior to the incident taking place, Mr Hammond said he heard the driver of the vehicle ‘revving’. 

When prosecutor, Tim Storey KC, asked about the speed the vehicle was travelling at, Mr Hammond said he believed it was travelling at an ‘inappropriate’ speed.  

Mr Hammond, who is a neighbour of members of the Khan family, said that prior to the fatal collision, he witnessed an ‘argument’ that took place between individuals from that family, and others he had not seen before. His attention was drawn to the ‘kerfuffle,’ after hearing ‘shouting’ coming from outside.

He told the jury that a woman he knew to be the daughter of Ali - identified as Riasat Khan by Mr Storey - and Nafeesa Khan, the woman who was subsequently seen lying motionless in the road were ‘pulling on each other’s hair’.

“The mother was doing her best to break it up,” said Mr Hammond, and said Nas, Riasat Khan’s brother, ‘had’ Riasat’s daughter ‘around the waist’ and was trying to pull her away.

“Ali was hitting her repeatedly,” continued Mr Hammond, clarifying that he was referring to the injured woman - Nafeesa Khan - and that he saw Ali hitting her to the ‘head and shoulders,’ when asked.

He said the ‘altercation’ which he estimated as having lasted for about ‘six minutes,’ subsequently led to her ‘being unconcscious’.

When Mr Storey asked about the circumstances that led to her ‘falling to the floor,’ Mr Hammond told the court: “I think being hit repeatedly while having your hair pulled would lead to said injuries.”

The charges admitted by Hassan Jhangur

Hassan Jhangur has previously pleaded guilty to causing Mr Marriott’s death by dangerous driving, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving to the others hit by his vehicle.

Detailing Hassan Jhangur’s guilty pleas to the jury, Mr Storey said he has ‘to some extent’ accepted responsibility for Mr Marriott’s death by guilty pleas to killing him ‘by his own dangerous driving, and of causing serious injury to the other victims again by his own dangerous driving’.

The days the trial has sat for and when it is due to return

The trial was opened on Tuesday (June 18) morning, and the jurors heard evidence on Tuesday afternoon and throughout Wednesday.

The trial did not sit on Thursday or Friday (June 20 and 21).

It is now set to resume on Monday morning (June 24), when CCTV is expected to be shown, and further prosecution witnesses are set to be called.

Hassan Jhangur and Mohammed Jhangur have entered not guilty pleas to the charges they face at trial.

The trial continues.