Pensioner Walter Bollen battled heroically to stop his car being stolen but the thief snatched it and deliberately drove over him, crushing him to death.

Witness Rosanne Mary Furnee told Bristol Crown Court she was in her flat in Montreal Avenue, Horfield, when she heard a car engine revving, looked out and saw a silver car with the driver's door open facing a car park opposite.

She described how she then saw 76-year-old Mr Bollen struggling with the thief, before he was struck by the door as the car reversed and then crushed as the car drove forwards over his body.

She told the court: "The old man was desperately trying to stop the car being taken.

"He put up quite a fight. It was obvious he wasn't going to let the car be driven off."

Scott Couch, 23, of Denny Isle Drive, Severn Beach, denies murder on November 29 last year.

It is claimed Couch jumped into Mr Bollen's prized Skoda as he opened the gates to his car park off Green Close just before midnight.

After Couch drove off neighbours and police tried to help Mr Bollen as he lay fatally hurt in the road.

Paramedics who rushed to the scene pronounced him dead at just gone midnight.

A post mortem examination later revealed he had suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, a collapsed lung and major injuries to crucial organs including his heart.

The Skoda was found abandoned in nearby Shakespeare Avenue, with a damaged driver's door and wing.

A tearful Miss Furnee told the court that when the car door struck Mr Bollen he staggered but she didn't see him fall.

She said the car then reversed, before moving forwards and knocking Mr Bollen forwards.

"His head was towards the pavement, his feet were towards me," she told the jury.

"The car drove forwards, lurched to the left where he was and straight over him.

"He was obviously to the left side of the road. Instead of driving straight on the car went to the left so it drove over him.

"It involved a turn of the steering wheel. He (Mr Bollen) was just lying on the floor; he didn't have to drive over him, there were other options."

Miss Furnee said she and others ran to the pensioner's aid and she could feel his pulse when she arrived. She then directed an ambulance driver to the scene.

Gemma Jones said she was in her front bedroom, on the phone to her partner, when she heard men's raised voices and a bang from outside and investigated.

She said that she saw a silver car with its passenger door open moving to the right, stop for two seconds and continue down Green Close towards Montreal Avenue.

She told the court: "After the car was out of sight I could see something on the floor in Green Close.

"I couldn't work it out. I took my glasses off and it looked like beige clothing. I then noticed someone running out of a house. I automatically realised it was someone laid there. I ran down my stairs to go and see if I could help. It was a man; I didn't know him. People did what they could to help him."

PC Lucy Williams said she and a colleague were called to the scene at 11.45pm and found people giving him first aid.

The case continues.