Husband tells court of wife's fatal chase for her bag

The husband of the BBC costume designer, Elizabeth Sherlock, spoke at the Old Bailey of the last moments he saw her alive.

Peter Sherlock, 48, said he saw his wife lying in the road outside Euston railway station in London, after she gave chase to a thief who grabbed her handbag in a coffee shop.

"Liz was surrounded by lots of paramedics, police and fire staff," he said. "They said she was conscious. They said if I was there I would be upsetting her. I was told to go to the fire station, where I would be looked after."

Mark Woolley, 36, from Pentonville, London, and Jackie Moorhouse, 24, from West Hampstead, deny murdering Mrs Sherlock on April 16.

The couple were so determined to escape with Mrs Sherlock's stolen bag that when she jumped on to the car bonnet to stop them, Mr Woolley drove over her, Nicholas Horwell, prosecuting, told the court.

"Her body was dragged for a short distance and knocked about like a rag doll," he said.

The trial into 42-year-old Mrs Sherlock's death was in its second day as her husband gave evidence. He told the jury that he was having a coffee with his wife when he noticed a woman sitting at the next table neither eating nor drinking.

"Liz just said, 'My bag has gone'," he said. "I was not aware of her rushing off, I was just aware of her getting up and going out the way we came in ...

"I thought she would go outside and not see anyone and then come back. I stayed guarding the suitcases. Then I thought she had seen someone. I became concerned."

Eventually, someone came into the café, and Mr Sherlock realised they were looking for him. "They told me there had been an accident," he said.

The trial continues.