A PARAMEDIC who tended alleged murder victim George Button said he did not think he had been the victim of a hit-and-run.

Rapid response paramedic David Abbs tried in vain to revive the 53-year-old council electrician, who was found dying on the verge of an unlit country lane near his home in West Rainton, near Durham.

A message broadcast on his ambulance radio told him to drive to help a man who had been knocked down by a car.

But Mr Abbs was puzzled by Mr Button's injuries as he began to give him first aid at the scene, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

"He was lying on his right side in the recovery position, with his head towards the verge," Mr Abbs said in a statement read to the jury.

"A police officer was supporting his head, which had a massive trauma open fracture to the back.

"Around the area of the head was a pool of blood.

"My initial thoughts were that he had been involved in a road traffic accident, due to where he was.

"However, I could not find any other apparent injuries to the rest of his body."

Later, Mr Abbs said he noticed an injury to one of Mr Button's fingers, the court heard.

"Part of his finger was missing," the paramedic said. "I thought it was strange as this appeared to be the only other injury apart from his head."

Mr Button's wife, Christina, 32, and her live-in nephew, Simon Tannahill, 20, deny his murder in March.

The prosecution claims he was bludgeoned to death because debt-ridden Mrs Button stood to gain more than £450,000 in insurance pay-outs.

The trial continues.