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A 25-year-old man died after being hit by a Mercedes driver in London's West End on Christmas Day, a court has heard.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC, opening the trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, told jurors Anthony Gilheaney “deliberately drove across the street intending to kill someone” before he allegedly struck Aidan Chapman and his friend Tyrone Ithoro on Shaftesbury Avenue.

“As the car turned into Shaftesbury Avenue, heading towards the junction with Rupert Street, it was caught on several different cameras,” Mr Aylett KC told the jury.

“It is being driven at speed and then, for no apparent reason other than a desire to knock somebody down, the defendant careered onto the other side of the road and struck them.

“He (Mr Chapman) simply had not stood a chance.”

Jurors

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