THE best friend of a teenager allegedly struck by a van has told a murder trial how he lay on the pavement next to him begging him not to die.

Giving evidence today at the High Court, Glasgow, Daniel Ewing wept as he described seeing his friend apparently being hit by the van.

Mr Ewing told the court he dragged Liam’s body from the road onto the pavement before cradling in his arms following the collision close to Celtic Park in the early hours of September 29, 2019.

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When asked by prosecutors what his relationship to Liam was, the 18-year-old replied: “He was my best friend, so he was.”

Mr Ewing had been at a football match in Edinburgh on September 28, he told the court today.

When he returned to Glasgow he went to the pub before texting Liam to arrange to meet at a friend’s house in Easterhouse.

The teenagers spent the afternoon and evening there before heading back to Mr Ewing’s home on Barrowfield Place.

Three other friends joined the young men at the house and they spent the night “enjoying ourselves and carrying on drinking.”

Mr Ewing told the court he was in the bathroom when he heart shouting from outside.

When he went downstairs the front door was open and his friends had gone to see what was happening.

Liam, 18, did not go out but remained in the house, the court heard, and “was not involved in any way” with what was going on outside.

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Outside in the street, Mr Ewing told the court, two groups of men were shouting and running at one another.

He recognised one group as being from the bottom end of Barrowfield and the other as being from the top end.

Mr Ewing told the court he recognised murder accused Dean Wright, Robert Farrell and a third man with the two accused being in a white van.

He said the third man was holding a knife.

Wright, 32, and Farrell, 33, deny murder.

After watching for a while, Mr Ewing turned to go back to his house when he saw Liam walking down the street towards him.

Mr Ewing said: “I hear a fast car approaching, that turned out to be a van, and it swerved towards the right where Liam was.

“I shouted to Liam to watch but unfortunately I was too late.

“The van hit Liam and Liam went 15 yards into the air.

“I ran over the road and there was blood all over the place. I tried to help Liam.”

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The teenager then told the court that the van had turned around and he was afraid it would run over Liam again.

He described dragging Liam’s body from the road onto the pavement.

He added: “The van came back down and swerved where there were people standing.

“It turned back and stopped right in front of me and Liam.

“That’s when I noticed it was Dean Wright and Robert Farrell.”

Mr Ewing said the two men then exited the van and ran off but he could not see anything further as he was lying on the pavement beside his friend.

He sobbed as he told the court: “I had Liam in my lap and there was a woman trying to give CPR.

“There was blood everywhere. Right away I thought he was dead.”

“Did he move?” the prosecutor asked.

“No,” Mr Ewing replied.

“Did he speak?”

“No,” Mr Ewing said again, “He couldn’t move in any way. He was helpless.

“There was blood everywhere coming out of Liam, I couldn’t tell you where from, there was too much.

“I was just begging that he wouldn’t be dead.”

Mr Ewing told the court that he and Liam were surrounded by “hundreds” of people and that he remembered Liam’s family arriving at the scene.

An ambulance crew arrived but Liam died in hospital.

Wright and Farrell are separately accused of trying to kill four people who had been helping Liam that morning.

Wright's QC Tony Graham then questioned Mr Ewing about the incident.

They both deny all allegations.

The trial, before judge Lord Arthurson, continues.