Pair ‘pulled out knives’ before alleged killing
A MAN accused of being part of a gang alleged to have murdered a teenager in a drugs dispute said two of his coaccused “pulled out knives” during a confrontation shortly before the alleged killing.
Raymond Thompson, 48, who is known as Paddy, is one of seven people standing trial accused of the alleged murder of Harry Baker, 17, who was found in Barry Intermodal Terminal on August 28, 2019, bloodied, stripped, and covered in stab wounds.
The defendant is accused of being part of an “armed and deadly gang” who prosecutors allege murdered the Cardiff teenager.
Leon Clifford, 23, Peter McCarthy, 37, Ryan Palmer, 34, Lewis Evans 62, and Thompson, who are all from Barry, as well as Leon Symons, 22, from Ely, in Cardiff, and a 17-year-old from Cardiff who cannot be named for legal reasons all deny murder and are on trial at Newport Crown Court.
During the trial yesterday the court heard that Thompson was a heroin addict and alcoholic who would take up to £20 of heroin “seven days a week”.
He said each day he would drink between half a bottle and a full bottle of vodka within an hour of waking up and had been drinking to that degree for a decade.
August 27, 2019, was Thompson’s birthday and he told the court he drank several cans of lager and at least half a bottle of vodka and also took heroin and crack cocaine.
He tried to ring Mr Baker at 11.03am but said he did not recall why, though said further calls in the afternoon were because he was trying “to score drugs”.
Thompson was later asked about the alleged ambush of Mr Baker and his associate Louis Johnson in the early hours of the following morning. He said he “saw two youngish boys brandishing knives” but did not recognise them, adding: “It was dark mind. I saw Symons and [the youth] – they pulled out knives too. They were both standing off each other making pretend jabs.”
Thompson said he initially joined the group running down the hill but stopped after about 60m, saying: “I just realised it would be nothing to do with me.”
He then returned to his flat.
The court heard that Thompson arrived back at his flat in Hillary Rise at 12.29am on August 28, 2019.
One minute later co-accused McCarthy and Palmer arrived back at the flat.
Siobhan Grey QC, representing Thompson, asked him: “Is there any conversation about what’s happened or the events of that evening?”
Thompson said: “Yeah, I opened the door and said: ‘Where have you been, what’s happened?.’
“[Palmer] said one of the Cardiff boys had given him a cut, a little nick, and there was nothing to worry about.”
Ms Grey said: “Was anything else said about it?” Thompson said: “No.”
Ms Grey said: “How injured did you think Harry Baker was?” Thompson said: “I didn’t think.”
Ms Grey asked her client whether McCarthy had said anything to him.
Thompson said: “He showed me two marks by his top thigh, two holes through his tracksuit bottoms. He said he got them for climbing over an iron fence.”
During cross-examination prosecutor Paul Lewis QC asked Thompson about a comment made by Palmer that a “boy had his face cut” and why Thompson had told police during interview that he didn’t ask who the victim was.
Mr Lewis said: “Was that because you knew who had his face cut?” Thompson said: “No.”
Mr Lewis said: “You’ve seen some boys in Little Moors Hill with knives, you’ve seen [the youth] and Ells (Symons) with knives, chasing the Cardiff boys away. You’ve seen Ryan Palmer and Peter McCarthy joining that chase.
“When they come back to your door and say someone had their face cut it was obvious who they were talking about.”
Thompson said: “I didn’t know anyone.”
The defendant claimed he had asked Palmer who got his face cut. He said: “He said it was the kids who got chased.”
When he opened the case prosecutor Mr Lewis told the jury: “Harry Baker was just 17 years old at the date he was so brutally murdered by these defendants. It’s the prosecution’s case that Harry Baker was deliberately targeted as a victim.
“He was ruthlessly hunted down by vicious people who were determined to find him.”
He said Mr Baker sought refuge “in a secure floodlit docks compound”, adding: “He no doubt thought he would be safe there but he wasn’t. His killers were determined.
“They subjected him to a swift, bloody and merciless attack before quickly fleeing from the scene.”
The trial, before Mr Justice Picken, continues.