Domestic incident ruled out, say Police

Shaun Dalby, 28, who lived in a flat in Church Street, Coxhoe, County Durham, was last night named as the victim of the incident, which happened at about 1.30am yesterday.

He was certified dead beneath the wheels of a Fiat Punto in the car park of the Co-op store in Petterson Dale, which backs on to Church Street, the main street through the former pit village a few miles from Durham City.

The 21-year-old woman driver was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in Durham. No one else was in the car at the time.

Villagers named her as Naomi Myers, from Quarrington Hill, who had recently being living in the Parkhill area of Coxhoe. Police declined to confirm that she was the woman in custody.

A Home Office pathologist was due to carry out a postmortem examination last night. Mr Dalby’s body remained under the car until it was taken away at about 2pm.

The entrance to the car park was screened by a large tarpaulin and a section of Church Street was cordoned off. The street was closed to through traffic and buses were diverted. A team of 20 detectives is investigating. Uniformed officers and community support officers were also at the scene.

The main street was blocked and some businesses were sealed off by the cordon.

Chief Inspector Colin Williamson, commander for Durham and Chester-le- Street, said the death was linked to an incident of criminal damage – thought to be a broken house window – that happened in a nearby street about half an hour earlier.

Three men were involved in that incident and one was arrested and questioned by officers.

Chief Insp Williamson said: “There is a half-hour window where we do not know what happened and we are appealing for anyone who may have seen or heard anything to get in touch with us.

“Half an hour later, we received a report from the ambulance service of a person who had been knocked down by a vehicle at the rear of the Co-op. Police attended and found that the paramedics were trying to revive him.

However, he died.”

He said that although Mr Dalby and the female driver knew each other, it was not a domestic incident. He also said that people should not be concerned that it was a random attack.

Ivan Lowther, who runs Coates Butchers, in Church Street, said the mood in the village was sombre, and said: “It is a shock for something like this to happen. You just don’t expect to get up in the morning to news like that.

“I do not know the circumstances behind it. We have just got to keep an open mind until we hear all the circumstances.

“It is obviously sad. We do not want things like this to happen in the village.”

David Gatenby, the manager of electrical goods, carpet and furniture retailer Gatenby Ltd, in Church Street, said the police cordon had disrupted trade for his and other businesses.

“The fact that they have had the whole street blocked off is ridiculous in my opinion.

Tuesday would have been a lot busier than it has been.

“There are two or three other people I have had contact with and they have had similar problems. We can’t get stock in and we can’t get stock out and we have had very few customers.”

David Gibbon, a postal worker who lives in Petterson Dale, said: “It is unusual for round here, because it is very quiet.”

Terry O’Connor, another resident on the estate, said: “I knew something was amiss when I saw a white tent and then I heard about it on the news.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the investigation team on 0345-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800- 555-111.