Jurors watched footage of a pensioner being run over during a street fight in front of his Tooting home, as the trial for his murder continues to be heard at the Old Bailey.
Jason Lewin, 34, of Glenthorpe Road, Morden, and his half-brother Stuart Palmer, 29, of Kew Bridge Road, Brentford, both denied the murder of 75-year-old Peter Lee by joint enterprise on June 2, 2015.
Peter Lee
The driver of the car, Jonathan Palmer, 30, of Green Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, was due to stand trial alongside his brothers, but took his own life in Wandsworth prison in November last year shortly before the trial was due to begin, delaying it.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
It is alleged the men broke into Mr Lee's home, which he shared with sons Danny and Terry, armed with knives.
Witnesses described the mood of the two defendants and Jonathan Palmer before the fight as 'pumped up, hyped up' and 'aggressive'.
Although Mr Lee was at a dentist appointment and not in his house at the time, his sons began to fight with the defendants in a brawl which moved through the kitchen and out into the garden, and included Mr Lewin being held under the water of a garden pond.
All parties were injured in the 'chaotic' brawl, the jury heard, with Mr Lewin telling police he thought he was 'going to die'.
The jury was shown footage taken on a mobile phone by a witness of Jonathan Palmer running over Mr Lee with his car, a black Volkswagen Sharan.
Mr Lee died later from 'severe head injuries, and multiple rib and skull fractures', the court heard.
Prosecutor Alan Kent explained the series of events that led to Mr Lee’s death began in July 2013, when police found Mr Lewin injured in the street in Sutton after three men broke into his cannabis factory, beat him up and stole a large amount of cannabis believed to be worth £14,000.
Mr Lewin pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis and was sent to prison for two years, and Mr Kent alleged that following his release Mr Lewin was intent on “restitution or revenge, or even both” on the man he and his brothers believed to be responsible – Robert Palmer, the father of Jonathan and Stuart Palmer.
Mr Kent said that on May 30, 2015, Mr Lewin and Jonathan Palmer attempted to break into a flat in Cheam, armed with a knife and demanding £2,000 from Chris Potter, who they claimed refused to pay for cannabis they had sold to him.
Despite damaging the door they were unable to gain entry.
A witness, who was at the address with Mr Potter at the time, said she received threatening text messages and phone calls until Mr Potter paid the £2,000.
One text read: "I want to see Chris in person or those boys will come back harder and more violent."
The witness, giving evidence from behind a screen, said: "They were shouting from the car park of my block of flats that they wanted their money.
"They broke through a security door downstairs and tried to get into my flat.
"With a friend I held the door closed because my three small children were in the flat.
"It was all a big commotion - they kept saying they wanted £2,000 from Chris."
She said the pair attempted to open the door by kicking it repeatedly, as well as damaging it with a sharp object.
It is claimed the pair also inserted an object, believed by another witness to be a knife, through the letter box, which 'grazed' her back.
HMP Wandsworth, where Jonathan Palmer "took his life".
On June 1, 2015, Mr Lewin, Stuart Palmer and Jonathan Palmer drove to the home of their former stepmother, who had previously been married to Robert Palmer, after hearing his car had been spotted outside the house in Lessingham Avenue, Tooting.
Mr Kent said Mr Lewin and Jonathan Palmer tried to enter the house armed with a knife and an iron bat and making threats to kill, while Stuart Palmer mainly stayed in the car.
Once again, they failed to gain access to the house, and it later transpired Robert Palmer was not in the country, but was in Thailand.
Later that same day, the three brothers drove to the home Mr Lee shared with his two sons, Danny and Terry Lee, in Welham Road, Tooting.
Mr Kent said: "One of the defendants, it may have been Jonathan Palmer, was heard to say before they arrived ‘let’s go and have a cup of tea with Peter’.
"The Crown’s case is that tea was the last thing on their minds."
Mr Lewin faces two charges of attempted aggravated burglary with intent to cause GBH while in possession of a weapon and one count of affray.
Mr Lewin and Stuart Palmer are charged together on one count of aggravated burglary and one count of murder.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
The court was also shown footage, unrelated to any of the charges brought against the defendants, of what the prosecution claim is Jonathan Palmer 'deliberately' driving at cyclists to 'scare them'.
The defence did not contest the identity of the driver, Jonathan Palmer, or Mr Lewin, who recorded it from the passenger seat.
One of the men is heard to say: "Foot down! This is how we roll.
"Brap! Love you!"
The trial continues.
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