A CHARGE card belonging to a murdered East Lancashire hospital boss was used to buy a meal the night after he was killed, a US court was told.

David Ward, whose parents live in Feniscowles, Blackburn, was found strangled on the bedroom floor of his Texan home in Eastern Hills, Fort Worth, Dallas.

Aaron Foust, 25, and Jamal Brown, 22, were arrested five days after the killing when Foust - whose nickname was 'Conan' - used Mr Ward's stolen American Express card at a restaurant.

Peter Phoenix, manager of Bennigan's restaurant, Arlington, told the 297th District Court in Fort Worth that when he was quizzed by police he remembered Foust because he had been unable to produce identification when he asked for a beer.

Bartender Chad Williams said Foust went outside and returned with a Texas identification card so he could buy a drink. He paid the $13 bill with the American Express card and left. Foust and Brown are accused of strangling Mr Ward on May 18, 1997, then stealing his BMW, American Express card and various items from his home.

Mr Ward, 43, senior vice president of operations at John Peter Smith Hospital, was found dead after he failed to arrive in Blackburn for the family visit. Williams and Phoenix told the court that they separately picked Foust's picture from an array of six photographs provided by Fort Worth Police Detective Michel Carroll, who headed the investigation.

Carroll said he interviewed the Bennigan's employees after American Express officials reported that Mr Ward's charge card had been used at the restaurant after his death.

Under defence questioning, Carroll said investigators found neither fingerprints nor other forensic evidence tying Foust to the crime scene.

But prosecutors have said that a live .357 calibre bullet at Mr Ward's house had been matched to a vest with identical ammunition belonging to Foust.

Another witness, Ian Tejeda, said he saw Mr Ward's BMW and a white Honda Accord racing along Shady Valley Drive, in Arlington, on the evening of May 20. He said the cars stopped in front of a house and the BMW driver got out and threw something into the vehicle.

He said: "There was a flash and the car began to catch fire."

Proceeding

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