Nigel Malt: father who ran over his daughter, 19, twice jailed for life over her murder in Norfolk

A dad who murdered his daughter by twice running over her body with his car, after she tried to protect her boyfriend, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years.

Nigel Malt, 45, reversed his car over his 19-year-old daughter Lauren Malt in West Winch in Norfolk then stopped and drove forward over her body on 23 January this year, after he threatened her boyfriend with a crowbar.

Afterwards, the defendant put his daughter’s body in the passenger side of his Mercedes car and drove to the shop where her mother, his estranged wife Karen Malt, worked.

Malt was estranged from both his wife and his children and he was living separately at a different address.

At the time, he was on bail awaiting trial on two counts of assaulting his wife in March and April 2021.

Malt, of Lynn Road, King’s Lynn, denied his daughter’s murder, claiming it was an accident, but was found guilty following an earlier trial.

‘I can’t fathom how a parent could kill their own child’

Karen Malt, fighting back tears as she read her victim impact statement at Norwich Crown Court, said: “I remember the call saying ‘I will bring your daughter over, she’s dead’.

“I was screaming ‘which one’ to him down the phone but he wouldn’t tell me.”

She said that when Malt said he was driving to her, she thought that her daughter “must be okay”.

But when his car arrived and she saw inside the passenger door “the feeling of dread started to come over me”.

“I just knew she wasn’t going to make it,” said Ms Malt.

“She was stuffed in the footwell.

“I saw her face and felt sick.

“I couldn’t believe she had been stuffed down there.

“Seeing her in that position for me was worse than knowing she had been run over.”

She said she tried to move her daughter into the seat, with no help from the defendant.

“I can’t fathom how a parent could kill their own child,” she said.

“How do you forgive?”

‘She should have been safe in her father’s company’

She said she will “forever remember that night and think about ‘what if’”, including what if she had left the relationship sooner.

Malt ran over his daughter outside the home where she lived with her mother and younger siblings.

Lauren Malt was pronounced dead at hospital in King’s Lynn, where the defendant took her.

Judge Anthony Bate said Malt used his car as a “lethal weapon in an alcohol-fuelled rage in a residential street”.

He told Malt: “She (Lauren) should have been safe in her father’s company.”

The judge sentenced Malt to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years, which is the amount of time he must spend behind bars before he can be considered for release.

He said Malt was tested by police at the time and found to have 170 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, more than the legal limit of 80 milligrams.

Malt, who had short-cropped grey hair and walked with a crutch, bowed his head through much of Wednesday’s hearing and showed no reaction as his sentence was read out.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, earlier told jurors that Malt argued with his daughter and threatened her boyfriend, Arthur Marnell, with a crowbar.

Mr Jackson said that after Malt “failed in his bid to inflict violence” on his daughter’s boyfriend and she told him to go home, “he was totally consumed with anger”.

Allison Summers KC, mitigating, said: “Had he not been drinking, it’s highly unlikely he would have behaved in the way that he did.”

‘Lauren needlessly lost her life’

The judge directed that the two counts of assault of Karen Malt will lie on the file.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Holly Evans from Norfolk Police, had said after the verdict: “Lauren needlessly lost her life at the hands of her father, the very person who should protect her and keep her safe.

“In a fit of rage, Malt chose a course of action that night which would have fatal consequences for Lauren and lifechanging ones for the rest of their family.

“We’re pleased with this verdict and hope Malt will take responsibility for his actions. Our thoughts remain with Lauren’s family and friends.”