Feud murder accused felt 'sick' over death

A man accused alongside his father and brother of murdering a man in a feud has told jurors he felt "physically sick" about the victim's death.

Daniel Ambler, 23, was killed by a car driven by Ashton Anderson at a petrol station in Seaham, County Durham, in January, after months of incidents between their families, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Barry Anderson, 52, and his sons Ashton, 20, and Logan, 19, deny murder, as do Tyler Leadbetter and Ajay Henry, both 18, who were passengers in the car.

Logan Anderson, who hit the victim with a hammer before the fatal crash, said he was acting out of self defence.

Ashton Anderson previously told jurors he had only meant to "scare" Daniel Ambler away when he drove his Nissan X-Trail at him on the forecourt of the Stockton Road Esso garage on 15 January.

The court has heard Daniel Ambler was rammed by the car into the fuel station's shop, with a shard of metal from some shelves going through his neck and killing him.

Logan Anderson, who was 18 at the time, told jurors there had been multiple incidents involving the Amblers in the months before the killing, especially Daniel's brother David.

He said cars belonging to his vehicle-trader father were smashed and burned, a bag of keys was stolen and, on 10 August, Barry Anderson was stabbed in the stomach by a man driven to the scene by David Ambler.

The court heard Logan Anderson admitted smashing windows at David Ambler's mother's home shortly after the stabbing.

The Ambler brothers were crack cocaine addicts who went to Seaham to "steal something or cause some kind of trouble", Logan Anderson told jurors, adding they had reputations for "robbing", being aggressive and carrying weapons.

The brothers' mother previously told the court Daniel Ambler went to the coastal town to "score drugs".

Logan Anderson's barrister Benjamin Myers KC asked him why he made a number of posts on social media threatening violence to the Amblers in the months before the fatal attack.

The defendant, who spent most of his life in care, said he wanted to appear to be a "big man" and try and fit in with the family he was "never really part of".

He also said they could be seen as "easy targets" if they were not seen to respond to David Ambler's attacks.

Logan Anderson said he thought doing his "bit" with messages and social media posts meant he would not have to do anything "in real life".

He said David Ambler was "very aggressive" and an "all round nasty person" who had said on social media he wanted to "behead" Barry Anderson.

Logan Anderson said he had gone to Hartlepool with a friend on 15 January, but went to Seaham after being told one of the Amblers had been sighted there by Ashton Anderson and their father was already on the way.

"Were you travelling there to have a fight?" Myers asked.

"No," Logan Anderson replied, but said he wanted to be there if there was a confrontation.

His father wanted to get a "Nike man-bag" containing stolen car keys back from the victim and a man he was with, both of whom had reputations for violence, the court heard.

The men "scattered" and Logan Anderson "chased" Daniel Ambler to try and "make him run off", the court heard.

He said the victim stopped, turned and pulled a hammer from his waistband and appeared to want to fight.

Logan Anderson said he punched Daniel Ambler multiple times before wrestling the hammer from him and hitting him three or four times with it, possibly in the head.

"It was either him use it on me or me use it on him," he told the jury, adding he thought Daniel Ambler "would have caused pure harm to me and even other people".

Once he saw the victim no longer posed a threat, he walked back to join his father, who had got the bag of keys from a man he had brawled with, when suddenly there was a "loud bang" from the petrol station, he said.

Logan Anderson said he felt "physically sick" about Daniel Ambler's death, while unsympathetic messages he sent in the aftermath were "just embarrassing" and written before what had happened had really sunk in.

"I didn't want to cause really serious harm to anyone," he said.

The trial continues.

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