Alice Wood, 24, was sentenced at Chester Crown Court to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years for killing Ryan Watson.

The philosophy student ran over the 24-year-old after she "lost her temper" following a row at a party in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

The event was held to celebrate the birthday of a user of the Headway brain injury charity, where Mr Watson was a support worker.

The court heard the pair argued over who was driving home, with Wood also accusing her partner of flirting with another woman.

She previously claimed her fiance died in a "tragic accident" when he was hit by the Ford Fiesta she was driving near their home in Rode Heath, Cheshire, at around 11.30pm on 6 May 2022.

Sentencing her on Friday, Judge Michael Leeming said: "Prison may be hard for you Alice Wood but you only have yourself to blame for the situation you now find yourself in."

The court heard Wood was preparing for her final exams in a theology, philosophy and ethics degree at the time of the murder and had a scholarship for a part-time research masters at Cambridge.

Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Nigel Parr said Wood "used her vehicle as a weapon, while under the influence of alcohol, deliberately driving at him and even continuing to drive after knocking him down."

He added: "She knew what she had done, but she refused to take accountability for her actions, forcing Ryan's family to sit through a trial and watch footage of his final moments.

"Throughout the trial Wood proclaimed her innocence, but thankfully the jury saw through her lies, and she was found guilty of Ryan's murder.

"While nothing is going to bring Ryan back, I hope the sentence handed to Wood will bring some sense of closure for his family, knowing that justice has been served.

"Our thoughts remain with Ryan's family and friends at this time."

'I deserve it'

Cheshire Constabulary said that Wood repeatedly and deliberately drove her car at Mr Watson in what witnesses described as a game of "chicken" following the argument.

After returning home to Oak Street, Rode Heath, Wood was seen on CCTV at around 11.20pm getting into her own car and reversing it out of its space while Mr Watson is seen walking

The footage shows Wood reversing her Ford Fiesta towards the man and almost hitting him, before driving towards Mr Watson a second time, onto Sandbach Road.

Mr Watson was thrown on to the bonnet of the vehicle as the back of his head hit the windscreen before he slid off and landed on his feet.

He was then seen walking away from the collision, but Wood deliberately drove at him a third time, hitting him and causing him to go under the car.

Wood then drove for around 160 meters near to Keats Drive with Mr Watson still under the vehicle, before stopping at a nearby address, where she told the resident: "Please phone an ambulance, I think I've run over my boyfriend."

Emergency services responded and paramedics pronounced Mr Watson dead at the scene. Officers attended and arrested Wood a day later over disclosures she had made.

While being arrested, she told officers; "It's fine, I deserve it."

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'You have shown no true remorse'

Wood also failed a roadside breath test and was found to have 61 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, over the legal limit of 35.

Speaking today, the judge said he did not accept Wood's explanation that she only intended to "scare" her fiance by driving towards him that night.

"You accelerated towards him, giving him no chance to move away," he told Wood. "Your intention was then to cause him some harm."

"In the heat of the moment and having failed to injure him in the first strike, this time you made no mistake. I am sure that there was an intent to kill.

"Ryan Watson was vulnerable. He was a pedestrian, he was holding his mobile phone, he was standing on the pavement, he had been drinking.

"There was nothing he could do to avoid the fatal act. To my mind you have shown no true remorse for Ryan's murder."

'He'll never get to live his life'

Mr Watson's family said that it had been "so hard" to repeatedly watch footage of the moment he was killed while trapped under the car during the three-week trial.

They added: "The one person Ryan trusted the most is the person who took his life in such a violent way.

"Alice is in prison where she belongs but no sentence is going to be long enough for what she has taken from us and Ryan. He'll never get to live his life and fulfil his dreams."