A Bristol pensioner was run over with his own car after he tried to stop a thief from stealing it, a court heard today.

Walter Bollen, 76, had returned from an evening of sequence dancing and had got out of his car to open a gate to the car park at his home in Green Close, Horfield.

It is thought that he left the driver's door open and the keys in the ignition as he tapped in the code to the electric gates shortly before midnight on November 29, 2008.

As he did so Scott Couch, 23, who had been out drinking with his friends and was looking for a way to get home to Severn Beach, walked into the street and came across Mr Bollen and his open automatic Skoda Octavia.

A jury at Bristol Crown Court heard today that Couch leapt into the driver's seat in an attempt to steal it but in doing so Mr Bollen span around and ran back to the car to drag him out.

The pair struggled and witnesses say Mr Bollen was thrown to the ground, perhaps after being hit by the car.

Couch, of Denny Isle Drive, Severn Beach, is then said to have reversed the car back and ran over Mr Bollen as he lay on the ground, the loud revving engine alerting the attention of neighbours.

Couch then sped off in the car, abandoning it in a nearby street with its lights on, a flat tyre and substantial damage caused by the collision with Mr Bollen.

Mr Bollen, a retired Rolls Royce engineer, was pronounced dead at the scene, a post-mortem examination revealing he had suffered significant crushing injuries to his chest and internal organs and had a fractured skull.

Michael Fitton, prosecuting, said Couch has admitted taking the car and being in the driver's seat when it hit Mr Bollen but has denied murder.

He told the jury that one witness, Lisa Hill, saw from her bedroom window Couch get out of the car and stand looking at Mr Bollen on the ground.

"This is the car thief taking time enough to get out of the car and look at the consequences of his action, to see the elderly man who has tried to stop him taking the car lying on the ground," Mr Fitton said.

"He did that to get an informed choice about what to do next and that choice is at the heart of this case, we say the choice he made was fatal for Mr Bollen.

"Lisa Hill saw Scott Couch get back in the car, put it into gear, drive it forwards and move it over the body of Mr Bollen twice.

"She saw the car struggling to get over the body beneath the wheels."

Couch was arrested by police a few days later after officers went to his mother's house and spoke to him on the phone.

Mr Fitton said: "There is no dispute that it was Scott Couch who was at the wheel of that car and that he drove it when it went over Walter Bollen.

"But he disputes that in doing so he committed the offence he has been charged with."

The case continues tomorrow at Bristol Crown Court.