Guide post man was fatally attacked just days before moving to his new home

A man was fatally attacked in a road accident two days before he was due to move away to start a new life with his girlfriend, a court has heard.

Andrew Peart, 39, died from a head injury after being hit with a “metal rod” by Jake McIntyre in Guide Post, Northumberland, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Mr McIntyre, 28, of Stakeford, Ashington, denies murder.

Mr Peart’s partner Sarah Gray told jurors he had gone to a shop to avoid their “argument” when he was almost “run over” by Mr McIntyre.

Ms Gray said she and Mr Peart had “known each other forever” but had only been in a relationship for eight months.

She said August 22 was a “beautiful day” spent at her home in Guide Post before moving to a new property six miles away.

“We wanted to move in together and start over,” Ms. Gray said.

She told the jury they had “argued about things you argue about when moving”, although it was mostly her “moaning” as Mr Peart was “not argumentative”.

Mr Peart went to a nearby Co-op store where he met Mr McIntyre, who was driving a Mitsubishi Shogun.

Ms Gray said she spoke to her partner on the phone after the altercation and he told her he was crossing the road when Mr McIntyre “almost ran him over”.

She said Mr Peart claimed he “yelled something towards the car” and Mr McIntyre then “hit him over the head with a pole”.

Ms Gray said she drove to pick up her boyfriend but he later walked out saying he wanted a “straightener” with Mr McIntyre.

Asked by prosecutor David Lamb KC what that meant, Ms Gray said Mr Peart had been “confused” about the attack and had wanted to “clarify the issue” by either discussing it or “fighting it”.

Several friends who saw Mr. Peart later that night said he had a bump the size of a golf ball on his head and was “shaky.”

When his condition began to deteriorate, his friends said they tried to call an ambulance but were told there would be an hour’s delay, so instead they flagged down a passing van that took him to the hospital.

The court heard Mr Peart died at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle eight days after the attack.

Ms Gray said she sent a “really angry message” to Mr McIntyre, who she knew, the day after the attack, asking what he had done.

She said Mr McIntyre, a cage fighter, initially claimed he had only hit Mr Peart, but after being called a “liar” by her, he apologized and said he once hit him on the head with a metal rod beaten.

Ms Gray said she replied: “Once is enough” and then hung up, telling the jury: “There wasn’t really anything more to say.”