A young man told a jury today of the moment when one of his best mates was fatally injured and another was "taken from his side".

Lee Bardy: died after being struck by car

The jury at Doncaster Crown Court heard that Nicholas Barrett saw a car so close to him he thought it would hit him.

Immediately before that he had been walking next to Duncan Haines, 18, who was seriously injured in the incident in the early hours of June 6, 1998.

Just behind them was Lee Bardy, 18, who was killed.

Mr Barrett is among several friends of the two victims who have given evidence against the driver of the car involved in the incident at the junction of Union Terrace car park and Clarence Street, central York.

Beverley Jayne Scanlon, 36, of Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, denies causing the death of Lee Bardy by dangerous driving, and causing his death by careless driving when unfit through drink.

Mr Barrett alleged in evidence that he and the two men were part of a group of about 15 people making their way home along Clarence Street, in the early hours, after a birthday party at a hotel in Bootham, York.

They were happy, laughing and chatting. He described what happened as the three men were at the entrance of the car park.

"I heard a loud bang behind me," he alleged.

"As I turned around, Duncan was taken from the side of me and Lee was hit."

He said he did not see the actual accident, but he did see Lee on the ground immediately afterwards.

As he turned round, he saw the back of a car so close to him that he thought it was going to hit him and he closed his eyes.

When he reopened them he alleged he saw the car in the mouth of the car park. It then went back into Clarence Street and drove off "at some speed".

In a statement made on June 8, 1998 he claimed he was still upset greatly by the incident because the two men were his "best friends".

Another friend of the three men, Natalie Barton, said she was in front of the two victims, and was "quite drunk".

She claimed something knocked her to the ground, and that she saw a car drive off fast.

When she turned round she became hysterical because she saw Mr Bardy on the ground.

Earlier, Wayne Ian Lee told the jury he saw a small car hit Lee Bardy and saw Duncan Haines "spinning through the air" at the entrance to the Union Street car park in York city centre.

Andrew Dallas, prosecuting, alleged that after the collision Scanlon drove straight home, put a newspaper over the damaged windscreen of her Fiat Cinquecento and went to bed.

Later the same morning she contacted police and told them she may have been responsible for the collision and that she had been drinking.

A breath test taken shortly after 11.30am proved negative.

In interview she told the police she had had about eight lagers and a glass of champagne between about 5.30pm and 1am and had also had something to eat.

Helen Oakley, who lived in Feversham Crescent, near Clarence Street, when she was a student in York in 1998, said she was sitting at the junction of Gillygate and Lord Mayor's Walk at about the time of the collision.

"I saw a young man in what I would call mid-collision with the car," she alleged.

Lee died on the same day as the collision.

She thought that the group with the two men was "rowdy" but generally walking on the pavement on the left hand side of Clarence Street.

The trial continues.

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