This is the moment a ‘drunk’ father is arrested in bed on suspicion of murdering his cousin’s four-year-old son by deliberately ramming the family’s truck off a road.
Footage shows a topless Patrick Maughan, 54, lying under a floral duvet and surrounded by police officers at his sister’s home in Berkshire.
He nods his head as he is told he is being arrested on suspicion of murder before telling cops: ‘I don’t have a phone.’
The bodycam clip was shown to jurors at Maidstone Crown Court where Patrick and his son Owen Maughan, 27, are standing trial accused of killing Peter Maughan, who died in a crash on June 1 last year.
Owen Maughan, 27, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter while Patrick has denied all charges against him.
Little Peter was killed when he was thrown from a Ford Ranger Wildtrak he was travelling in alongside his mother Hayley Maughan, father Lovell Mahon, and his then one-year-old sister Annarica.
He suffered severe and devastating injuries and was pronounced dead at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford just 30 minutes later.
Maidstone Crown Court heard that even with immediate medical care, the young child would not have survived.
Lovell suffered multiple fractures and brain trauma, leaving him unlikely to walk again. Hayley and Annarica escaped with minor injuries.
Four-year-old Peter Maughan was killed when he was thrown from a Ford Ranger Wildtrak
Patrick Maughan, 54, was found topless and lying under a floral duvet at his sister’s home in Berkshire when police arrived to arrest him
Lovell also cannot remember the incident and has been unable to give a statement to police following the crash.
Owen denied intending to cause serious injury and told jurors he ‘couldn’t believe’ what he was seeing as the car flipped.
Prosecutors said the defendants were ‘in a fury’ as they followed their cousin’s vehicle for several miles along the A2 motorway between Cobham and Northfleet.
After the vehicles came together by chance, the family’s Ford Ranger was chased for around five minutes before exiting at the Pepperhill junction shortly before 9.30pm.
Following a brief and angry encounter at the roundabout, in which Mr Mahon shouted there were ‘children in the motor’, Owen is alleged to have used his vehicle as a weapon while being ‘actively encouraged’ by his father.
Peter’s mum later told police that Patrick Maughan – her uncle by marriage – had been ‘revving up’ the situation and making it ’10 times worse’.
In the aftermath of the fatal smash, Owen drove off, leaving his family at the scene.
The pair stopped briefly in Longfield for Patrick Maughan to pull the front number plate off their damaged truck before continuing their journey past their home in Hill Rise, Darenth, and on to Plantation Road in Hextable, where the vehicle was abandoned, the jury was told.
Patrick Maughan, 54, is pictured outside court – he faces eight charges including murder and manslaughter
Still wedged under the chassis was one of the children’s pushchairs that had fallen from the rear of Mr Mahon’s Ranger during the incident.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, Owen Maughan told jurors he believed he and Mr Mahon were going to fight after arguing back and forth between the cars and so decided to dent the side of his car so he would pull in and fight.
He said when he found out Peter had died his first thought was to kill himself.
He had been drinking in Rochester in Kent with his father earlier that day, and had about 12 bottles of beer and 13 pints respectively, before they began driving their Ford Ranger pick-up truck home.
He said on his way home they spotted a similar car which made them think the drivers may also be from the traveller community, and pulled up alongside the car.
Owen Maughan told the jury: ‘When I looked at Lovell, he’s waving his fist around, aggressive and pointing at me. I didn’t know why he was doing that… I didn’t know what the problem was.
‘I got pretty pissed off with it.’
He said it made him upset and he slowed down, getting behind the vehicle, and started following him ‘just to try and annoy him’.
Pictured: Hayley Maughan and Lovell Mahon and their children, Peter, and then one-year-old sister, Annarica Maughan
He denied knowing there were children in the car and said he did not hear Mr Mahon say there were ‘children in the motor’.
Owen Maughan said that at the point approaching a mini roundabout, he followed Mr Mahon instead of taking another exit home, thinking they were to pull over and have a fist fight.
He said when he noticed Mr Mahon was driving away, he decided to ‘nudge’ his car, adding: ‘I thought I would just put a dent on the side of his car and he would stop.’
After seeing the car roll several times, he made a ‘cowardly decision’ to flee the scene.
He added: ‘I kept driving away. The only thing I thought about was just getting away.’
Owen Maughan told the court that they then pulled the registration plate off the truck to ‘evade police’ as he was in a state of ‘panic’.
He added: ‘I was shocked, I couldn’t believe what was happening.’
In his evidence he told jurors he organised to leave Kent that night and went to Manchester, but after hearing of Peter’s death he returned to ‘face the consequences’.
He handed himself in to a police station with his mother the next morning.
Peter suffered severe and devastating injuries to his head, chest and abdomen and would not have survived even if he had received immediate medical attention, jurors were told
In cross-examination by the prosecution, Owen Maughan denied Mr Jory’s suggestion that he had done precisely what he intended to do, and he ‘didn’t give a f***’.
Mr Jory added that he could have stopped to try to help after the crash, and Owen Maughan replied: ‘I wish I did.’
Owen Maughan was arrested the day after the crash, also on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, having gone to Medway police station with his mum and handed himself in.
Jurors heard he was ‘calm but a little bit emotional’ and co-operated with officers.
But it was not until 12.40am on June 3 that his father was traced to the property in Maidenhead in Berkshire and arrested.
Having forced entry, officers wearing body-worn cameras captured the moment they were greeted by the shirtless, heavily intoxicated 54-year-old under a floral duvet.
Having then been handcuffed and cautioned on suspicion of murder and three offences of attempted murder, he seemingly lied about not having a phone.
After telling officers he did not have a phone, they found one belonging to him in the kitchen, the court was told.
However, the PIN was not provided and police have not been able to access it.
The arresting officer also told the jury that Patrick Maughan was ‘very obviously drunk’, with his breath smelling ‘very strongly’ of intoxicants.
Mr Mahon suffered multiple fractures and brain trauma in the crash, leaving him unlikely to walk again
When asked how much he had had to drink, he told them: ‘A lot.’
The court also heard that although police forced entry, it was not because anyone had refused to let them in.
In interview, he mostly answered ‘No comment’ aside from giving two prepared statements.
In the first, he stated: ‘I was simply a passenger in the car and it was my intention to go home.
‘I had no intention or joint intention to cause anyone serious harm or death.’
In his second, he again reiterated he was the passenger in his son’s vehicle, before adding: ‘I did not plan, conspire or agree to cause anyone serious harm or death to any other person.’
Owen Maughan also answered ‘no comment’ when questioned.
Although father and son were initially arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, the jury has been told Owen is now on trial accused of the murder of Peter Maughan, causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Lovell Mahon and attempting to cause GBH with intent to both Annarica Maughan and Hayley Maughan.
Patrick Maughan faces eight charges – murder and manslaughter in respect of Peter, causing the youngster’s death by dangerous driving, three offences in respect of Mr Mahon, namely causing GBH with intent, inflicting GBH and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and two of attempting to cause GBH with intent to Annarica and Hayley Maughan.
Jurors have also been told that Owen has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, as well as causing serious injury by dangerous driving and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Mahon.
Patrick Maughan denies all charges.
The trial for the pair, both of Hill Rise in Darenth, Kent, continues.