Man used "vehicle as weapon" to murder Sheffield Good Samaritan Chris Marriott & injure four others, jury told

Chris Marriott, 46, was on a walk with his wife and children when he stepped in to help an injured woman on College Close, Burngreave. He was attempting to come to the woman’s aid when a car then collided with him and a group of four others on the afternoon of December 27, 2023.

He, along with midwife Alison Norris, who was also passing by, had been attempting to administer first aid to the injured woman when the car struck them. Two women and a man also suffered serious injuries in the crash, and another man was also allegedly stabbed following the crash.

Chris, who had worked at a Sheffield food bank and was a regular churchgoer, suffered fatal injuries in the incident and could not be saved. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The defendants and the charges they face

Hassan Jhangur, 25, has today (Thursday, June 5, 2025) gone on trial, accused of Mr Marriott’s murder, which he denies. He also denies an alternative count of manslaughter, relating to Mr Marriott’s death.

Mr Marriott had stopped to come to the aid of Hassan Jhangur’s sister, Nafeesa Jhangur, when he was struck by his vehicle. Nafeesa, along with their mother Ambreen Jhangur, were among the four others injured in the collision.

Ms Norris and Riasat Khan, the first person to be hit, also suffered serious injuries in the collision.

Outlining the case against Hassan Jhangur, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC, said it is alleged “Mr Marriott came to die, and numerous people were injured, when the car driven by the defendant, Hassan Jhangur struck them.”

“Hassan Jhangur used his Seat Ibiza vehicle as a weapon by deliberately driving so as to hit that group of people, perhaps not realising who was within it,” Mr Pitter told the jury.

“We make plain, the prosecution case here is that Hassan Jhangur is guilty of the offence of murder, using his car as a weapon and in doing so unlawfully killing Chris Marriott and intending at the time to cause at least really serious harm.”

Hassan Jhangur, formerly of Whiteways Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, is also alleged to have “brutally stabbed” his new brother-in-law, Hasan Khan, shortly after his vehicle came to a stop in what prosecutors claim was an attempt on his life.

Hassan Jhangur’s father, Mohammed Jhangur, has gone on trial alongside him, accused of concealing the knife used to stab Hasan Khan in the boot of his vehicle.

Mohammed Jhangur, aged 57, faces one count of doing an act which had a tendency to pervert or interfere with the course of public justice.

Good samaritans trying to help were “unwittingly brought into midst of family dispute”

Mr Pitter continued: “Chris Marriott was only trying to help. Alison Norris was only trying to help too.

“It was that public spirit of both of them that brought them unwittingly into the midst of a family dispute which involved the defendants and their family on the one side and a family they were connected to by recent marriage, the Khans.”

Mr Pitter said the wedding of Hasan Khan and Amaani Jhangur, which took place on the morning of the fatal incident, “appears to be the feud and the catalyst for the violence that was to occur.”

He told jurors it was as part of Hassan Jhangur’s participation in the family “feud” that “killed Chris Marriott on the one hand and seriously injured Alison Norris on the other.”

“In doing so he also injured others there, including his own mother, such was, you may conclude, his rage and determination to engage in that dispute that had by this stage, spilled into violence.”

Such was the level of tension between the two families, suggested Mr Pitter, that members of the bride’s family did not attend the wedding that morning; and subsequently proceeded to throw bags of her belongings outside the Khan family home on College Court, which is located close to the scene of the incident.

The tension between the two families “developed into a physical confrontation with violence being used,” resulting in Hassan Jhangur’s sister, Nafeesa Jhangur, lying in the street, seemingly having been rendered unconscious, somewhere in the mouth of the junction of College Close and College Court.

Mr Pitter said: “And so it was that at about this time when things were really escalating that Chris Marriott and Alison Norris happened to become involved.”

“Mr Marriott decided, fatefully, that he would go to see whether he could help…Alison Norris was medically trained, being a midwife, so she too went to see if she could assist.

“Those actions to help in the dispute were to unwittingly seal their fate.

“It’s at this stage that the defendant Hassan Jhangur enters.”

He continued by telling the jury of eight men and four women it is the prosecution case that Hassan Jhangur, upon reaching the scene of the incident, drove “straight into” Riasat Khan - the father of the bride - “using the car as a weapon,”

“And if so, the intention could only have been to cause at least really serious harm. Riasat Khan was thrown up onto the bonnet of the vehicle, and his head struck the windscreen of the vehicle; he was then in effect cartwheeled over the roof of the vehicle, as it continued beneath him without apparently braking or deviating from its path,” Mr Pitter said, adding: “As part of that same sequence, and in fact just moments later as it carried on to the right…that vehicle the Seat then collided with a group of four people in the road who were attending to Nafeesa Jhangur.

“She’s on the floor, Ambreen Jhangur, the defendant’s mother, Alison Norris and Chris Marriott.”

Hassan Jhangur’s car then came to a halt in a nearby front garden, and in the process, the front end of the vehicle had lifted from the road such that its wheels were no longer able to get any purchase.

“When the police arrived at the scene some five minutes later, they found the engine still running and the front wheels spinning in the air. One of the officers had to smash the driver’s window to reach in and turn off the ignition,” Mr Pitter said.

Defendant’s “preparedness to engage in violence” show us his mindset, jury told

He added: “ The prosecution say that the actions then once he’d hit that group of Hassan Jhangur and his preparedness to engage in violence and use a knife in the way he did are demonstrative, show us, his mindset and what he was about.

“You see, once the car came to a halt, with the engine still running and wheels spinning - albeit he may have engaged reverse - he made his way to the Khan family home. That coincided with the return of Hasan Khan and his brother Hussain.

“Hassan Jhangur was at this stage now armed with a knife. Upon seeing Hasan Khan he went to him and stabbed Hasan multiple times to the left side of his head and also to his chest.

“And what the prosecution say is this: stabbing someone to the head and left of the chest, those vital parts of the body, we say being indicative of any intent to kill.”

Injuries sustained by those involved

Moving to the injuries sustained by those struck by the car, Mr Pitter told jurors that Mr Marriott died at the scene, after being “wedged completely underneath” Hassan Jhangur’s vehicle.

Referring to the results of a post-mortem examination carried out by forensic pathologist Dr Lumb, jurors were told that Mr Marriott suffered multiple, unsurvivable injuries, which led to his death.

“Dr Lumb was of the opinion that such was their severity, it is likely that Mr Marriott lost consciousness very quickly,” said Mr Pitter.

Alison Norris suffered a fracture to the right fibula – the outer of the two bones in the lower half of the leg – close to her knee joint. She also suffered soft tissue injuries to her right hip and buttocks.

Riasat Khan suffered a large wound to his left forehead and frontal scalp area; this measured approximately 10cm long. Jurors were told the wound is believed to have been caused when he was struck by the Seat Ibiza driven by Hassan Jhangur and his head struck the windscreen of the vehicle.

Nafeesa Jhangur suffered injuries which were described as being life-threatening, comprising extensive rib fractures, bruising and lacerations to her lungs, both of which had collapsed. She also suffered some fractures to her spine, a fracture to her pelvis and fractures to both of her upper arms. There were lacerations to her liver and her spleen; these and the fractures to her pelvis would likely have bled considerably. These injuries were deemed by Dr Lumb to be consistent with her having been crushed underneath a vehicle.

Ambreen Jhangur suffered a 1.5cm laceration to the back of her leftscalp; she also suffered an undisplaced fracture of the skull underneath this laceration, along with fractures to many of her ribs, her breastbone, her pelvis and to two of her vertebrae. Her right lung was bruised and there was bleeding inside her chest cavity.

Mr Pitter told jurors: “Her injuries were very severe and life-threatening; they were most consistent with having been crushed under a vehicle, but they were also consistent with having been struck by a vehicle and knocked forwards or over the vehicle.”

Hasan Khan, who is alleged to have been stabbed by Hassan Jhangur following the crash, sustained four wounds to his left ear; he had also sustained two fractures to his lower jaw and his skull in the area close to his left ear.

He had also suffered two or three apparent stab wounds to the left side of his back, which penetrated between his ribs and caused a penetrating stab wound to his left lung, which had collapsed as a consequence.

Dr Lumb described Hasan Khan’s injuries as being “very serious,” jurors have been told.

Hassan Jhangur’s intended victims, and what the law says about “intentions being transferred”

Mr Pitter told the jury they may conclude that the “real targets” of Hassan Jhangur’s actions were not so much the likes of Chris Marriot, Alison Norris or “his own mother and sister.”

He continued: “Indeed, his real target - or targets - may well have been a member or members of the Khan family, as you may be able conclude from what he was to do and later say once he was out of his car. In order to get that or those targets he had decided to use his car as a weapon.”

Mr Pitter explained to the jurors the law around intentions being transferred from one target to another.

“The law says that your intentions can in effect be transferred from one target to another - or from an intended target to another person - even if you did not desire to hit that particular person who was hit,” he said.

He likened the theory to a stray bullet hitting, and killing, a person other than the intended victim.

“The identity of the person who ultimately was hit and killed in law makes no difference and the intention would have been transferred,” he said.

The pleas entered by Hassan Jhangur and Mohammed Jhangur

Hassan Jhangur has previously pleaded guilty to the offence of causing death by dangerous driving, in relation to Mr Marriott, and the offence of causing serious injury by dangerous driving to the others harmed in the collision.

Those guilty pleas were not accepted by prosecutors. They allege Hassan Jhangur’s conduct amounts to murder, or the alternative count of manslaughter, in relation to Mr Marriott, and to grievous bodily harm in relation to the other four people struck by his vehicle.

Hassan Jhangur has entered not guilty pleas to those charges.

He also faces a further count of attempted murder, or the alternative count of wounding with intent, in relation to Hasan Khan, which he denies.

Mohammed Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, denies one count of doing an act which had a tendency to pervert or interfere with the course of public justice.

The trial continues.