By Andrew Bardsley

Copyright manchestereveningnews

A van driver on trial accused of murder ‘purposely’ hit a dad with his vehicle following a ‘road rage’ row, a jury heard. Andrew Robson denies murdering 50-year-old Paul Bowles in Oldham. Minshull Street Crown Court heard they were involved in a verbal altercation after a van driven by Mr Robson came ‘very close’ to Mr Bowles’ car. They became embroiled in an ‘argument, sometimes referred to as road rage’, prosecutors have said. The pair stopped at a set of traffic lights on the Elk Mill roundabout in Royton and became involved in a fight. Prosecutors allege Mr Robson, who runs a fencing company, got back into his van and deliberately struck teaching assistant Mr Bowles. A witness claimed there was ‘no way’ the incident was an accident. Sign up to the MEN Court newsletter here Mr Robson, 33, is expected to say he didn’t deliberately drive his van at Mr Bowles and that he ‘didn’t actually know’ he had collided with him. On the second day of the trial, jurors heard from Mr Bowles’ 19-year-old daughter, who was in the car at the time. Katie-May Bowles told the jury she was a front seat passenger in her father’s Nissan Qashqai. They left McDonald’s on Jardine Way in Chadderton and drove down Broadway as they headed home to Royton on the evening of Wednesday, March 26, she said. Ms Bowles said that after her father drove off Broadway and onto the Elk Mill roundabout, a van came alongside the Nissan. She said Mr Bowles appeared ‘annoyed’ with the van driver. “I’m not necessarily sure the reason why he was annoyed,” she said. “He kept repeating that there was a taxi in front of him.” Ms Bowles said the van driver rolled his window down and that her father then rolled down the front side passenger window. She said the pair said ‘mean things to each other’, and that her father made a ‘w*****’ sign with his hand. “They argued for a bit and the guy in the van sped off onto the roundabout,” she added. “The first thing I saw was his aggression and my dad sort of reacted to that.” Ms Bowles said her father then moved to ‘catch up’ with the van around the roundabout as they stopped at traffic lights. “You could tell he was angry,” Ms Bowles said of the van driver. “At first my dad rolled his window down. I think all he wanted to do was speak. My dad didn’t want a fight.” She claimed the van driver then got out of his vehicle and began walking ‘aggressively’ towards the Qashqai. Ms Bowles claimed his face was ‘red’ and that he looked ‘angry’. “I know he [Mr Robson] threw the first punch,” she told jurors. “My dad said ‘come on then’ and they started fist fighting. The guy in the van lunged forward and went for my dad’s face. “But I didn’t see contact. But I saw my dad move back a little bit.” Ms Bowles said she felt ‘scared’ at this point, and shortly after she got out of the car. She said: “I got out and shouted at them to stop. I was shouting at him [Mr Robson} to go away. I was just shouting ‘that’s enough now’.” Join our Court and Crime WhatsApp group HERE She said that the van driver got back into his vehicle. “He was trying to get in the van quickly at that point,” Ms Bowles said. Jurors have heard that the van struck Mr Bowles, who suffered fatal injuries. “He didn’t stop or anything,” the witness said of the van. “He kept accelerating. It just seemed like he was going faster.” Ms Bowles told how she saw her father on the floor, seriously injured as paramedics attended to him. Mr Robson did not remain at the scene and prosecutors claim that he ‘made arrangements to have somebody collect the van’, which has not been recovered. Earlier in the trial jurors heard evidence from a teenage eyewitness, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, who told police that there was ‘no way’ the collision was an accident. The youth said: “He [Mr Robson] had a good five seconds to stop. He knew what he was doing. He purposely went forward and to the side to hit him and drag him across the road. There is no way what he was doing was accidental. It was on purpose.” Mr Robson, of Fold Green, Chadderton, denies murder and an alternative count of manslaughter. Proceeding .