Father of Lauren Malt who ran over her in his car twice is jailed for life

Lauren and Nigel Malt
Credit: Facebook/Norfolk Police
Lauren Malt was killed by her father

A mother has descried the moment she saw the broken body of her teenage daughter -delivered to her by her husband shortly after he had run her over in his car.

Karen Malt said she 'felt sick' when she saw her daughter 'stuffed into the footwell' of her husband's car.

Nigel Malt, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years, for twice running over his 19-year-old daughter Lauren Malt in West Winch in Norfolk in January this year.

Afterwards, the defendant put his daughter's body in the passenger side of his Mercedes car and drove to the shop where the girl's mother, his estranged wife Karen Malt, worked.

Lauren Malt was pronounced dead at hospital. Credit: Lauren Malt/Facebook

Malt was estranged from both his wife and his children and he was living separately at a different address.

At the time, he was on bail awaiting trial on two counts of assaulting his wife in March and April 2021.

Karen Malt, fighting back tears as she read her victim impact statement at Norwich Crown Court, said: "I remember the call saying 'I will bring your daughter over, she's dead'. I was screaming 'which one' to him down the phone but he wouldn't tell me."

She said that when Malt said he was driving to her, she thought that her daughter "must be okay".

But when his car arrived and she saw inside the passenger door "the feeling of dread started to come over me".

"I just knew she wasn't going to make it," said Ms Malt. "She was stuffed in the footwell. I saw her face and felt sick. I couldn't believe she had been stuffed down there.

"Seeing her in that position for me was worse than knowing she had been run over."

She said she tried to move her daughter into the seat, with no help from the defendant. I can't fathom how a parent could kill their own child," she said.

"How do you forgive?"

The black Mercedes C200 car used by Nigel Malt to run over his daughter Credit: Norfolk Police/ PA

She said she will "forever remember that night and think about 'what if"', including what if she had left the relationship sooner.

Malt ran over his daughter outside the home where she lived with her mother andyounger siblings. Lauren Malt was pronounced dead at hospital in King's Lynn, where the defendant took her.

Judge Anthony Bate said Malt used his car as a "lethal weapon in an alcohol-fuelled rage in a residential street".

He told Malt: "She (Lauren) should have been safe in her father's company."

The judge sentenced Malt to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years, which is the amount of time he must spend behind bars before he can be considered for release.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, earlier told jurors that Malt argued with his daughter and threatened her boyfriend, Arthur Marnell, with a crowbar in Leete Way.

Malt, of Lynn Road, King's Lynn, denied his daughter's murder, claiming it was an accident, but was found guilty following an earlier trial.

Mr Jackson said that after Malt "failed in his bid to inflict violence" on his daughter's boyfriend and she told him to go home, "he was totally consumed with anger".

Allison Summers KC, mitigating, said: "Had he not been drinking, it's highly unlikely he would have behaved in the way that he did."

The judge directed that the two counts of assault of Karen Malt will lie on thefile.

Speaking after the sentencing Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Holly Evans, said: “Lauren needlessly lost her life at the hands of her father, the very person who should protect her and keep her safe.

“This moment of rage had fatal consequences for Lauren and lifechanging ones for the rest of their family, who continue to grieve for her."