Killer in 70mph car dash after stabbing

A gatecrasher who stabbed a father-to-be to death after a party at a Wolverhampton pub led police on a 70mph car chase before stopping and telling them: "I'm not a bad lad", a court heard.

Michael Brown, aged 19, drove through traffic lights on red and undertook another car as he sped through the streets of Nottingham in the hours after he killed Andrew Diack at the Flying Dutchman pub.

Police saw the dark blue Vauxhall Astra driven by Brown, at around 8.35am on February 7 last year, Wolverhampton Crown court was told yesterday.

Brown, of Langley Road, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton, had driven to Nottingham after stabbing Mr Diack once in the heart just before 4am after a birthday party to which he had not been invited.

A statement from the Nottinghamshire officer who pursued Brown, which was read to the jury, said he was driving "extremely close" to the car in front", had undertaken a vehicle and driven through red lights.

The police car pursued Brown through streets at speeds of up to 70mph in a 30mph limit before the Astra crashed into a van. Brown stopped soon after.

The officer who spoke to him at the scene asked: "Are you a bad lad?", to which Brown replied: "I'm not a bad lad. I lose it if people wind me up. I just flip."

When told he was being arrested for the murder of 29-year-old Mr Diack, of Stafford Road, Fordhouses, he said: "Are you joking?"

Brown denies murder, but admits manslaughter on the grounds of provocation and that he was suffering from an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing.

Yesterday, the court heard that Mr Diack made a final call to his best friend. He phoned Anthony Gwilliam, who he had been with at the pub party.

Mr Gwilliam said in a police statement: "It was Diack saying it's either 'kicking off'' or 'I'm in trouble'. Then the phone went down."

The trial continues.