Blackpool murder accused 'did not have blood on him' jury told

Munochismo Eriken, 28, of South Green, London, is among four men who deny murdering Kris Kam in a brutal street stabbing on October 26 last year.

Mr Kam, 35, died in the Blackpool Victoria Hospital at around 8.24pm on Sunday, October 27, 2019 - the day after he was set upon on Queen Victoria Road, Blackpool, close to the junction with Levens Grove, Blackpool.

He had suffered a severed popliteal artery in his leg.

It is alleged the men pulled up in a Volkswagen Golf, with at least two defendants getting out and attacking Mr Kam, before they drove away in the car.

Eriken, Christopher Carrington, 26, of no fixed address, Shaquille Cumberbatch, 27, of Montrose Avenue, Edgware, London, Kevin Gracia, 26, of Hilltop Avenue, London, are on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of murder.

Summing up the evidence in Eriken's case, his lawyer, Mr Kelleher, said: "How did Mr Eriken, allegedly in the thick of it, manage to avoid getting even one minute microscopic bloodstain on him. Surely it suggests he never even got close enough.

"For a variety of reasons his case is different from everyone else's."

Eriken previously claimed he had met Cumberbatch, who he knew from London, at a burger bar in Manchester and agreed to travel to Blackpool with him, but stated he did not know any of the other men.

Referring to this, his lawyer added: " We suggest the evidence tends to contradict and undermine the prosecution theory that this was a joint, concerted and agreed plan.

"Is it plausible that within two days of arriving in Blackpool, when he'd been doing separate stuff to the others, he is recruited to engage in an attack on a man he doesn't even know?"

The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Robert Altham, is due to sum up the rest of the evidence this afternoon.

The jury could be asked to retire to consider their verdicts tomorrow.

(proceeding)