William Buckingham murder accused 'threw punches' outside pub at footballer, court hears

Daniel Press, 24, from Ewell, hit William Buckingham, 21, from Morden, with his car on the A24 London Road and left him for dead less than an hour after a fight between both men outside the Star Pub in Ewell, the jury at Kingston Crown Court heard.

Bouncer Rahim Krashniki, from Croydon, who was working at the Star Pub on on September 26 told the jury he saw “a tall man with dark hair come out of the pub and start throwing punches at Will without warning.”

The tall man was identified in court as Mr Press.

Mr Krashniki said he tried to separate them after the defendant hit Mr Buckingham - whose family lives in Sutton and North Cheam - a couple of times.

He said: “After that I saw a lot of people coming out of the premises and a fight started with everybody involved.

"A lot of people were involved. Wills’ mates came out as well.”

The fight then moved across the road and the bouncer and his supervisor tried to break it up, the court heard.

He said earlier another bouncer had dealt with Mr Buckingham and a friend of Mr Press, who had had a small scuffle inside the pub after they found out they would be playing football against each other on the weekend.

Police arrived at the scene to break up the fight and Mr Press and his friends spoke to a couple of officers, the court heard.

According to Mr Krashniki, they did not take any names down.

“I thought the police would have to take it further. I told them ‘you can’t just leave it at that’.”

Another witness, Karen Fisher, said she was trying to separate the fight said when police arrived.

She said Mr Press’s girlfriend Kerry Barnett "had a really sore hand and her knuckles were cut.”

Miss Fisher said they had all been trying to break up the fight and that, at some point, there were four people on top of Mr Press, punching him.

Daniel Press denies murdering Mr Buckingham.

The trial continues.