Murder accused in stab denial

STAB victim . . . Tommy Bilton

A MAN charged with the murder of a teenager denies stabbing him and claims he was trying to break up a fight at a party.

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

A brawl broke out outside Stott House, in the Eldon Street estate, Oldham, in the early hours of Saturday, August 15, 2015, which resulted in the stabbing of Tommy Bilton (19), of Elm Road, Limeside, and Simon Dalton.

Bleeding

Mr Bilton 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.

At Manchester Crown Court yesterday, the jury heard a series of recorded phone conversations between Stubbs and his cousin Gemma.

The prosecution suggested that the defendant was trying to get the witness to change her statement so that it would corroborate with his.

He was heard on the tape saying: "Everything that doesn't match can be argued against you. That's why they have to match. They all should match."

The court heard that Stubbs (24), who has Asberger's Syndrome, has previous convictions - the most recent of which was of wounding and possession of a blade in January 2015.

He pleaded that he used excessive self-defence in an eight-on-one attack and was given a suspended sentence.

Stubbs said he only went to his cousin Gemma's flat at the estate at around 10 or 11pm, after being persuaded to go.

His original plan, he said, had been to go to bed early in order to travel to Newcastle the next day to visit his family.

When asked by Peter Birkett QC, defending, if he had been taking drugs, he insisted he had only had a few drinks but was in control of himself. Stubbs added that he had not got involved in the fight due to his suspended sentence. He claimed that others around him were organising a fight over the phone,

He said: "A few people were passing the phone around, acting like kids. I wasn't paying attention. They were organising fights.

Aggressive

"I'm on a suspended sentence, why would I want to fight? I'd just got myself a three-bedroom house with my missus.

"Why would I give up all that for nothing?"

He stated that Keiran Knapman, another young man at the party, was "the worst one" and was being "quite aggressive" and wanting to fight.

He added: "They were all searching round for weapons. Then Keiran Das said to Keiran Knapman to get a knife."

Stubbs said that he told most of the revellers to leave the flat as he was concerned about his cousin. He said he carried on drinking ­- it was now gone 3am ­- and only went outside when he heard a lot of noise.

Stubbs said there were 10 to 15 people outside and Sean Dockerty, another witness, had tried to hit his cousin. He said Keiran Knapman was fighting with Tommy Bilton.

The defendant claimed he tried splitting up the fight and was then hit from behind with a glass bottle then suffered a blow to his right ankle, after which he "just walked away".

He later needed surgery to re-attach his left ear.

A few of the group, Stubbs included, went back into the flat. He said he told someone to call the police several times.

Stubbs said: "Keiran Knapman was drenched in blood. He was like a broken record. He kept saying, 'I'm going to kill him, he's dead'."

Stubbs said he only went back down to check on his cousin. He then claimed that Dalton came at him with a knife.

He said: "He came up to me quite aggressively with a knife. I said, 'Chill out, I've done nothing'. He started slicing, chopping my arm. He hit me in the back a few times. He stabbed me a few times with the knife."

Stubbs then said Keiran Das and Dalton had a fight among themselves.

He said he then picked up a knife and went after Dalton.

He said: "I was just trying to grab hold of him. I grabbed him in a headlock. He stumbled and fell down. I fell back and he fell on top of me."

He denied deliberately stabbing Dalton.

Contact

Asked by Mr Birkett if he had any physical contact with Mr Bilton, Stubbs replied: "No, he never did anything to me. He never spoke to me, he never said anything wrong to me. I never laid a finger on him."

After the incident he said he was planning to go to Oldham police station until he saw the police cars making their way to the estate and carried on walking home, where he cleaned himself up.

He was found by police a few days later in Newcastle.

The case continues.