A philosophy student has been found guilty of murdering her boyfriend when she “lost her temper” and drunkenly ran over him with her car, dragging him underneath. Alice Wood, 23, used her Ford Fiesta as a weapon when she hit partner, Ryan Watson, 24, near the home they shared in Rode Heath, Cheshire, at about 11.30pm on 6 May 2022. Wood, who had just received a scholarship for a master’s at Cambridge, denied murder and an alternative count of manslaughter as she claimed her boyfriend’s death was a “tragic accident”. She told her trial at Chester crown court she did not realise he was trapped underneath her car when she drove 158 metres up a road after an argument. Judge Michael Leeming told her she “may never be released” as he further remanded her in custody. Wood stared downwards as she left the dock. The three-week trial heard the couple had spent the evening at a party in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, with staff and service users of the brain injury charity Headway, where Watson was a support worker. Andrew Ford KC, prosecuting, said Watson was seen on CCTV footage “having a good time, being a gregarious and outgoing party guest”, while Wood was described by one woman attending as “a bit cold”. But Wood told the court that when she drove Watson home from the party in his car, despite knowing she was over the drink drive limit, he “flipped” and accused her of flirting with other men. The student described an argument that continued when they returned to the house they owned in Oak Street and led to Watson grabbing her by her hair extensions and holding her head over the oven hob. She said she went out to her car to leave but Watson followed and they continued to argue as he stood outside the car. CCTV showed her reverse the vehicle, hitting Watson’s car, a bin and a bollard. The car could be seen in the footage reversing into Sandbach Road as Watson walked away, but then swerved off the road towards him. The CCTV showed the car reverse and then move forward, hitting Watson a second time and knocking him underneath the car before driving away. In tears during much of her evidence, Wood said she had stopped the car and got out after travelling a short distance down the road because she felt it was not accelerating properly. She said: “It was like stepping into a nightmare because I could see Ryan underneath the car. It was like I was in hell; It didn’t seem real.” The court heard she then knocked on the door of a nearby house and told residents: “Please phone an ambulance. I think I’ve run over my boyfriend.” In a statement, Watson’s family said it had been “so hard” to repeatedly watch the CCTV footage shown in court of the moment he was killed while trapped under the car. They said: “The one person Ryan trusted the most is the person who took his life in such a violent way.” David Jones, senior crown prosecutor at CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “Under the influence of alcohol, it was clear that Alice Wood’s jealousy was ammunition enough for her to brutally kill her partner.” Sentencing will take place on 29 January.