A MAN threatened the passengers of a car with a baseball bat during a bitter feud between two rival groups in Crawley, a court has heard.

John Marr, 32, of Northgate, Crawley, jumped on the bonnet of a silver BMW and then on to the roof of the vehicle wielding the bat during an altercation in the town on October 21, 2017, a jury has been told.

He is charged with affray in that he used or threatened unlawful violence towards another and his conduct was “such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety”, according to the prosecution.

Marr denies the charge.

Shortly after the altercation, Thomas Kelly, 22, suffered a cardiac arrest near Lloyds Barbers in Crawley High Street, and died of a heart attack in hospital nearly two weeks later.

The jury has been told that three cars were involved in the altercation, and that Mr Kelly had been travelling in a different vehicle to the BMW and to that which contained John Marr.

In summing up the prosecution’s case against Marr at Hove Crown Court, Alan Gardner QC said Marr was brought in as “the muscle” during a feud between two rival groups that came to a head in the early hours of October 21.

“It is the prosecution’s case that [Marr] did brandish the baseball bat and threaten [the occupants] of the car with it,” he said. "Charlotte Beckham, sitting in the front passenger seat of the BMW thought he was going to smash the windscreen with the baseball bat."

Marr did not give evidence during the two-week trial.

Mr Gardner said the jury "may also want to consider" the inferences from the defendant’s decision not to take the witness stand to give evidence.

Stephanie Panchkowry, defending, told the jury there were “varying accounts” from witnesses as to what happened between the rival groups that night.

In her summing up, she also told the jury that Marr’s decision not to take the witness stand to give evidence was “his right”.

The jury started deliberating at 3pm on May 30 and were sent home an hour later.

The trial, before His Honour Judge Jeremy Gold QC, continues.

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