Big Friendly Giant invented friend to take blame for vicious attack, court told

A man, nicknamed the BFG after Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant, was accused of inventing a friend to blame for a vicious attack on young woman.<--break->“></p>



<p>Lawrence Ruddock, 22, an apprentice from 7 Matlock House, Denmark Hill in south east London has been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, for attacking his alleged girlfriend, Miss Ramadan, on 23 April 2010. </p>



<p>Mr Ruddock said Marcus Leverson, his friend of over ten years, had beaten up Miss Ramadan while they were on their way to a barbecue.  Mr Leverson has not been traced. </p>



<p>He also claimed Miss Ramadan was not his girlfriend, but had been Mr Leverson’s girlfriend of about six months.</p>



<p>Prosecution Counsel, Mark Eldridge said: “It’s plain Marcus does not exist and even if he did exist, he wasn’t involved and he wasn’t Miss Ramadan’s boyfriend, you were.”</p>



<p>He continued: “It has been alleged that you punched and tried to strangle her.” Miss Ramadan has suffered a broken nose and jaw as a result of the attack.</p>



<p>Defence counsel, Mr Robert Rye, told the court that Miss Ramadan had said she had been attacked by Mr Leverson, but later changed her story. He told Mr Ruddock: “She eventually said it was you who assaulted her. She said you more or less concocted the story together. Did you concoct any stories?”</p>



<p>Mr Ruddock replied: “Definitely not, no.” He added: “She’s scared of him, that’s understandable, there are quite a lot of people who are, there are things going on on the estate.”</p>



<p>Mr Ruddock said he arranged to meet Mr Leverson at Champion Hill Estate, but Mr Leverson didn’t turn up. He later bumped into him with Miss Ramadan. They made their way to a barbecue, with Mr Ruddock walking about 30 metres in front to give them some privacy. </p>



<p>Mr Ruddock said: “I heard a scuffle and an altercation and a scream, I ran back and I saw him on top of her. He was punching her once or twice. I ran towards him and wanted to punch him, I grabbed him, got on top of him and she was underneath him and we both fell on top of her. She was screaming that she needed an ambulance.” </p>



<p>According to Mr Ruddock, Mr Leverson then walked off: “He wasn’t having none of it.”</p>



<p>Mr Ruddock called an ambulance and led Miss Ramadan to the road where he left her in the care of a man who was coming towards them. Mr Ruddock said: “I was pissed off that I had been left with someone who was injured. I was upset and angry. I walked up the footpath and that’s when the ambulance came.”</p>



<p>He added: “ I wasn’t thinking straight, I wasn’t taking into consideration that someone was hurt.”</p>



<p>When Mr Ruddock found Mr Leverson later he said he: “Just shrugged it off, he didn’t care.”</p>



<p>Mr Eldridge questioned the large amount of traffic between Mr Ruddock’s and Miss Ramadan’s phones. In three weeks there were 158 texts and 92 calls. Between 23 and 26 April there were 24 texts and 30 calls. </p>



<p>Mr Ruddock explained that he let Mr Leverson use his phone because he had a contract and Mr Leverson could not top up his own phone because it had a cracked screen and was unusable. He claimed that the majority of calls were between Mr Leverson and Miss Ramadan.</p>



<p>When Mr Ruddock was initially interviewed by the police he claimed not to know Miss Ramadan’s name. </p>



<p>Mr Ruddock said: “At the police station I didn’t really want to be involved so I tried to distance myself from the incident. Coming from an estate I didn’t want to be a snitch by helping the police. I didn’t want to be a snitch because it would come back to me.”</p>



<p>Mr Ruddock denies the charge. The case, presided over by Judge Bayliss, continues. </p>

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