THERE was no evidence of the health problem a man claimed made him pass out – resulting in him driving his parents into a canal, a court heard.
Stephen Seddon is accused of shooting dead his mother Patricia and father Bob, just weeks after allegedly trying to kill them in a road accident.
The Seaham dad-of-three told a paramedic called to the scene of the collision in Timperley, Manchester, he had experienced sharp chest pains and passed out before the hired BMW careered off the road into a canal.
Seddon, who is also known as Nic, denies two charges of attempted murder in the smash last March, and two charges of murder, after his parents were found dead from gunshot wounds at their home in Sale in July.
The 46-year-old unemployed sales manager, of Benevente Street, Seaham, was hailed a hero after the canal drama, Manchester Crown Court was told. The court heard how he told police and medical staff who helped with the rescue of his parents, as well as 17-year-old disabled nephew Daniel, he had suffered shooting chest pains in his left side before blacking out.
But Dr Mark Holland, a consultant physician at Wythenshawe Hospital, said tests showed no sign that Seddon was suffering from a heart condition.
He said: “ECG and blood tests came back negative and a chest X-ray showed no abnormalities.
“However, occasionally you can have heart disease and tests can be normal.”
Paramedic Wendy Shaw, who was one of the first emergency staff to arrive at the scene of the crash, said: “He told me he’d had sharp chest pains, had passed out and veered into the canal. He said he felt tingling down his left arm and nausea.
“He said he had felt these pains in the past and his GP had put it down to stress and prescribed him anti-depressants.”
Seddon had also speculated he may have hit a brick, causing the car to veer across the road.
But forensic crash investigators found no evidence of a brick or stone having been struck on the carriageway, and no evidence that brakes had been applied before the BMW left the road.
The prosecution has alleged that on July 4, Seddon left a family holiday caravan in Lancashire and drove back to Seaham, where he borrowed a car from one of his in-laws, then travelled to his parents’ home, calling a man – known to have convictions for firearms offences – on the way.
It is claimed CCTV places him in the area of the time when his parents were killed, and afterwards he drove back to Seaham, buying beer at a shop before returning to the caravan.
The prosecution has said that after killing his parents, Seddon placed the sawn-off shotgun into his father’s lap to make it look like he killed his wife, then himself.
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