Witnesses describe seeing aftermath of collision that killed British businessman

A wealthy British businessman was killed by a car as he attempted to cross a dual carriageway in Ukraine, an inquest heard.

Witnesses described seeing the aftermath of the collision in which Barry Pring, 47, died while he waited for a taxi with his wife Ganna Ziuzina.

Mr Pring and Ms Ziuzina, known as Anna, had been out for a meal at a restaurant in Kiev in February 2008 to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

The IT consultant married Ms Ziuzina, who is now called Julianna Moore, in January 2007 in a whirlwind romance after meeting online when she had registered with the www.elenasmodels.com website, the inquest heard.

The inquest in Bristol was told Mr Pring and Ms Moore had between them drunk a litre of vodka at the Kozachok restaurant before leaving before midnight to get a taxi home.

Musician Svitlana Dudko, who was performing that evening in the restaurant, told the inquest she was working on the terrace and had a good view of the street outside.

“I heard a screeching noise and the sound of an impact and then I saw a dark-coloured vehicle move along the traffic section and then I saw by the guard rail there was a dismembered body,” she told the hearing via an interpreter from Ukraine.

Asked to further describe what she saw, she said: “They were trying to climb over the guard rail towards the traffic.

“The man had already climbed over the rail. I saw them climb.

“They had been in the restaurant from 5pm to 11.30pm and they were quite drunk because they had been drinking vodka all the time and they were just messing around near the guard rail.

“I turned around towards them when I heard the noise and screeching sound and I saw the remains of the person and it was quite mashed.”

Ms Dudko described the vehicle she saw as a “foreign black car”.

Restaurant worker Natalia Mytsyk told the inquest: “I heard a very loud bang and heard a scream.

“I looked round outside, and I saw a girl kneeling by the rail and a blooded man on the floor.

“She was screaming. I saw a blooded mess in the snow and I realised there was nothing I could do about it and I took the young lady into the restaurant.

“I took the young lady into the bathroom and helped her wash and helped her drink and I instructed the barman to phone the police.”

The inquest previously heard that Ms Moore, who was a qualified primary school teacher but worked as a dancer when she married, had been accused in past High Court proceedings by Mr Pring’s family of murdering her husband.

She told the inquest that she had not organised her husband’s murder or paid anyone to do it.

Mr Pring, who was originally from Devon, owned three properties in the London area and a flat in Kiev. He also owned a second flat jointly with Ms Moore in Kiev.

His family became suspicious that his death may have been foul play because Ms Moore was “very cold” towards him and “not loving or caring”, the inquest heard.

They hired a private investigator in the Ukraine who discovered the authorities had not investigated Mr Pring’s death properly.

The hearing continues.