Volunteer coastguard murdered his partner by running her over before faking her suicide by placing dead body on road after innocent van driver had passed, court hears

By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 18:40, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 18:42, 7 July 2026 A volunteer coastguard allegedly mowed down his live-in partner and then attempted to stage a road collision to make it appear that she had committed suicide, a court heard. 'Controlling and coercive' Rowan Sutton ran over Aimee Pike in the dark in the countryside and then transported her body to another place in a second car, a jury was told. A court heard Sutton, 31, took her to a main road and placed her body on a low wall while he waited for a van to pass so that he could fake her suicide at 4am. Mr Dawes said Sutton filmed a passing bakery van and then placed her body on the road, conducting a fake one-way conversation with Ms Pike in which he begged her 'don't do it, stay there' and shouting 'Aimee' as the van went by. Plymouth Crown Court heard Sutton made it look 'like a car crash'. The jury heard burly Sutton and his alleged victim were splitting up after five years together but Sutton feared he would lose access to their child. Prosecutor James Dawes KC told the jury that Sutton then spread entirely false rumours that Ms Pike, 22, was suicidal. He said Sutton told her family members and his coastguard colleagues that she was erratic, suffering with her mental health and suicidal. he jury was told Rowan Sutton was prone to 'bouts of intense anger' and was controlling and coercive towards Aimee Pike Rowan Sutton told coastguard colleagues Aimee Pike was erratic, suffering with her mental health and suicidal, the court heard Mr Dawes said: 'That's because he planned to fake her suicide but in fact he killed her and made it look like suicide. 'Around this time the defendant began to plan a way in which he could continue to have exclusive access (to his child) and that meant getting rid of Aimee.' The court heard that despite separating four weeks before Ms Pike died, the couple still lived in the same flat together at West Charleton, near Kingsbridge, Devon. The jury was told Sutton was prone to 'bouts of intense anger' and was controlling and coercive towards Aimee. The jury also heard that three weeks before she died and a week after they split up, Sutton allegedly sexually assaulted Aimee as she slept naked in bed and filmed the attack. Mr Dawes said Ms Pike sometimes stayed in Sutton's caravan in the nearby village of Loddiswell – where he installed a secret camera in a clock to record her. Ms Pike died in the small hours of April 23 2025 after Sutton drove her six miles to the caravan in his Land Rover, where she planned to spend the night alone. The court was told that after dropping her off, Sutton drove home but parked in a village hall car park out of sight of a CCTV camera. Once the street lights went out two-and-a-half hours later, Sutton went back to his Land Rover and drove towards the caravan - taking a route to avoid any cameras 'in a sneaky way'. The jury were told he left his phone at home to give the impression that he had not gone out, and had removed a dashcam from the Land Rover. Mr Dawes said: 'He went there not to check on Aimee but to murder her. The injuries to Aimee would suggest he ran her down in that Land Rover in the darkness in the countryside somewhere. There were no witnesses to this killing.' The prosecutor said Sutton then moved the body after killing her, but only the defendant knows where he stored her body before transporting her in his Skoda car to the main A379 Embankment Road at New Bridge, Kingsbridge. Mr Dawes said: 'The prosecution case is that this relationship was characterised by controlling and coercive behaviour.' He said both Sutton and his alleged victim were looking for other relationships after their separation, and Sutton had been contacting people 'for sexual reasons'. Sutton denies murdering Ms Pike and sexually assaulting her three weeks earlier. On Wednesday the jury will visit the scene with the judge and legal teams. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.