Zombie knife killer tells court co-accused were not involved in stabbing

A drug dealer who stabbed a 17-year-old to death with a zombie knife has claimed none of his co-accused were involved.

Tristan Kerr was attacked with a 13.5cm (5.3in) blade in February by Georgie Mears, 19, and collapsed and died outside a house in Abertridwr, Caerphilly county.

Mears had gone to a flat on the same road to deliver two £25 bags of ketamine to Kerr in February, where he told Newport Crown Court Kerr tried to attack him.

Mears, of Thornhill, Cardiff; Connor Palfrey, 25, from Abertridwr; Ricardo Elliot, 27, of no fixed abode and Elexi Manny, 25, from Senghenydd, Caerphilly, deny murder by joint enterprise.

Kerr died after being stabbed through the heart, with the moment he collapsed caught on a doorbell camera on Lower Francis Street.

Mears told the court he retrieved the knife used to stab Kerr from the garden outside the flat that day, at Manny's request.

He said the knife was by his waist, covered by his puffer jacket and not on display.

Mears was then called by a man he was dealing for, saying he was to go to Lower Francis Street to see Kerr.

On arrival, he told the court Palfrey entered the flat first, and he followed "10 to 15" seconds later, while Elliot and Manny stayed outside.

A scuffle between Mears and Kerr occurred in the flat almost immediately, the jury heard, with Mears claiming Kerr tried to rugby tackle him.

He only reached for the knife as "he was coming towards me", he told the court.

Ray Tully KC, defending Palfrey, asked Mears to confirm the scuffle had nothing to do with his client. He said it had not.

After the stabbing, the defendants fled the scene and were driven by Manny to Hereford, something Tully suggested had already been planned that day.

"No," said Mears, adding he had asked Palfrey if he had "somewhere I can go".

Mears said there was no plan to hurt anyone at Lower Francis Street.

"There was no joint assault was there, it was just you and Tristan?" Tully said.

"Yes," said Mears.

Michael Ivers KC, defending Elliot, put it to Mears that his client was not well known to him, and had not been told about "what you were going to do" at the flat.

"No," said Mears.

Caroline Rees KC, defending Manny, challenged Mears' claim that Manny told him where the knife was in the garden.

"Lexi told me where the knife was," Mears told the jury. "She was the only one in the car who knew I had the knife."

But he said Manny had nothing to do with the killing.

When cross-examined by Mike Jones KC, prosecuting, Mears said he put the knife under his clothing while fleeing so no-one would see it.

"I'd just stabbed somebody with it," he said.

Asked by Jones if he "deliberately" attacked Kerr, Mears replied: "He attacked me. I didn't mean to kill him."

Jones asked Mears why he had been "so secretive" about having the knife, hiding it from Palfrey and Elliot.

He said: "Or is the obvious truth that you all knew you had the knife as soon as you'd picked it up?"

"That's not true," Mears said.

The case continues.