- Alice and her fiance Ryan seemed to be the perfect couple
- But after a night out drinking, Alice became consumed by jealousy
- Then, after an argument, she did the unthinkable
Alice Wood had been blessed with both brains and beauty.
The 23-year-old had passed her uni exams with flying colours, even getting a tattoo of her impressive results.
Now she was in her final year, studying theology, ethics, and philosophy, and had been awarded a scholarship to study as a post-graduate at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the UK.
There was something else she had to be proud of too – her fiancé, Ryan Watson, 24.
Ryan was well liked by everyone who knew him, and was a support worker at a brain injury charity called Headway.
The pair had recently bought a home, which they shared with their four dogs. They had also discussed one day getting married and having kids.
The future was looking very bright for the young duo.
On the evening of May 6, 2022, Alice and Ryan went to a 60th birthday party held by a client of the charity Ryan worked for.
The couple appeared to enjoy themselves, drinking and dancing.
But later in the evening, Alice became jealous when Ryan began chatting with another guest, Tiffany Ferriday.
Alice felt left out of their conversation.
When the couple left the party, both were intoxicated. Because Ryan had only recently passed his driving test, Alice offered to drive them home in his car, despite being over the limit.
On the journey, an argument broke out. Back at their place, neighbours heard them shouting as Alice parked Ryan’s car, then got behind the wheel of her own Ford Fiesta.
CCTV would later show her turning the car into a ‘weapon’, reversing, hitting Ryan’s car, a bollard and a bin, before crashing into her fiancé who was no longer in his car.
He was thrown onto the bonnet then back onto the road, somehow landing on his feet. Alice then reversed and went for Ryan again, this time pinning him underneath the chassis.
She then drove 160 metres down the road with her fiancé stuck beneath the vehicle. She then ran to a neighbour’s house where she knocked on the door.
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‘Please phone an ambulance. I think I’ve run over my boyfriend.’
Ryan suffered horrific injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. His cause of death was listed as crush asphyxiation.
Alice Wood was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with murder.
At her trial at Chester Crown Court in December 2023, Wood denied murder, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter, saying it had been an accident and she had not realised Ryan was underneath the car.
In her defence, she claimed that it was Ryan who’d accused her of flirting with other men at the party which had caused the row.
But Tiffany Ferriday also gave evidence, saying she and Ryan had ‘clicked’ at the party.
‘Ryan was the light of the table. He was dancing with us all – he was involving everyone. Alice didn’t really seem to get involved,’ she said.
Tiffany agreed that Wood was ‘pretty much left out’ of the conversation, and said she felt she’d been ‘getting stared at’ by Wood for much of the night.
The prosecution said that CCTV clearly showed Wood had used her car as a ‘weapon’ and witnesses claimed they’d seen her play a game of ‘chicken’ with Ryan, driving the car towards him to scare him.
As the CCTV footage was shown to the jury, Ryan’s family walked out of the court in tears.
The prosecution argued Wood had ‘lost her temper’, claiming it was clear her intention was to kill, and that she’d shown no remorse after her fiancé’s death.
The jury agreed, finding her guilty of murder. In February this year, Alice Wood was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars.
He was the light of our lives
During his sentencing remarks, Judge Michael Leeming addressed her directly.
‘Prison may be hard for you, Alice Wood, but you only have yourself to blame for the situation you now find yourself in.’
In her victim impact statement read from the witness box, Ryan’s mum Lisa said that her ‘world stopped’ from the moment she got a knock on her door to say her son had been killed.
‘My family had been destroyed in an instant and it hurt even more hearing who had killed him,’ she said.
‘The one person Ryan trusted the most is the person who took his life in such a violent way.
Ryan’s younger brother Owen also spoke.
‘We took Alice into our family and her actions have showed how little she cared for Ryan.’
‘Now Ryan has gone the happiness has turned into darkness. I have lost my best friend, the happy place in my heart.’
Senior Crown Prosecutor David Jones described Ryan’s death as a ‘tragic loss of life’.
‘Under the influence of alcohol, it was clear that Alice Wood’s jealousy was ammunition enough for her to brutally kill her partner.
‘Though it will never make up for their devastating loss, I hope today’s conviction brings Ryan’s family some solace, knowing his murderer has been brought to justice.’
After Alice Wood’s sentencing, Ryan’s family released another statement.
‘It gives us some comfort to know that she is where she belongs.
‘Unfortunately, it doesn’t bring Ryan home to us.
‘He will be forever missed by all our family and his friends.
‘He was the light of our lives’
‘We thank everyone involved who have helped to achieve justice for Ryan.’
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