Stabbed man bought blade for fight: lawyer

Tommy Bilton

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

A MAN who was stabbed in a street fight last year - which led to the death of a teenager - had brought the knife himself in a pre-arranged attack, it was claimed in court yesterday.

Testifying at Manchester Crown Court yesterday Simon Dalton said he was walking along Ashton Road, Oldham, in the early hours of August 15 with Tommy Bilton, his cousin Sean Dockerty and another friend when a fight broke out with a group of people in Stott House, in the Eldon Street estate.

Tommy Bilton (19), of Elm Road, Limeside, and Simon Dalton were both stabbed shortly before 4am on Saturday. Tommy died at the Royal Oldham Hospital from internal bleeding after being stabbed in the groin.

Mr Dalton was stabbed near his kidneys and was hospitalised for 10 days.

Matthew Paul Stubbs (also known as Matthew Gregory), of Horsedge Street, Oldham, is on trial for murder, wounding with intent and violent disorder.

The jury at Manchester Crown Court was told that the two stabbing victims had been drinking at a friend's house in Greenacres on the evening of Friday, August 14 before making their way down Ashton Road.

Mr Dalton said they were going to his cousin Sean's house, further down the road, and had to cut through the estate.

He said people from his group were shouting at those on the balcony of Stott House, in the Eldon Street estate, and they were also shouting back before a fight suddenly broke out.

He said he tried to split up the fight when he got hit on the back of the head.

He said: "I must have got stabbed, I didn't see who it was. I had an itchy back. I looked round and felt blood."

Mr Dalton said he could not say how the fight started, that he intervened only as peacemaker and that he could not give more details about the fight including who was involved.

When asked several times by Peter Birkett QC, who was defending, how the fight started, Mr Dalton insisted he did not know.

Mr Birket then suggested that Mr Dalton was not telling the whole truth and that he had brought the knife which he was then stabbed with.

Mr Birkett said: "Of course you know a phone call had been made. You know it was made to that flat.

"You know perfectly well that threats had been made on the phone.

"The reason I suggest you're lying about everything that went on is because you had a knife with you."

Mr Dalton denied all this.

Claims

Also testifying was Mr Dockerty who had got into a fight at the same house in the estate just a week before.

He was knocked out cold and hospitalised overnight but claims he did not know who had hit him until he was interviewed by police a week later, in connection with the fight that led to the two stabbings.

The defence claim that Mr Dockerty returned to the estate on Saturday morning to take revenge and that he had returned earlier that week to make threats.

Mr Dockerty said he received an aggressive phone call shortly before arriving on the estate from someone who was at the party.

He said: "He was shouting, come here we will fight it out."

When asked by the prosecution if the call had anything to do with the previous week's events, Mr Dockerty replied: "I knew it had something to do with it.

"But I didn't know who had hit me."

He then claimed that when an argument broke out between his group and the people on the balcony, he ran off to his sister's flat but only came back when one of his friend's came to fetch him and told him to return.

He then found out his cousin had been stabbed. When the police arrived he was handcuffed and arrested.

However, in a police statement, Mr Dockerty initially tried to distance himself from the events and claimed he found out about the stabbing after receiving a phone call.

Mr Birkett said: "This is where you had been hospitalised before. You spent the night in hospital. There was a score to settle wasn't there?

Mr Dockerty replied: "I have never been a violent person."

When asked for his whereabouts on the previous Monday and Tuesday night, Mr Dockerty said that he could not remember.

Mr Birkett suggested that Mr Dockerty went back on the estate, asking for an individual who went by the name 'Meatball', and that was he was "going to get it".

Mr Dockerty replied: "I can't remember it was over a year ago."

Proceeding