Bernard Tetlow QC led Shahida Begum, both of the Garden Court Criminal Defence Team, and were instructed by Tahir Mahmood and Yusuf Khan of Abrahams Law Solicitors.
The defendant was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon, this was a circumstantial case. The defendant and the deceased were former childhood friends. There was a suggestion the incident was related to a former ex-partner of both parties.The allegation was that the defendant had made threats of committing a stabbing earlier in the day, which had been overhead by members of the public. Later that day he was said to have cycled to the vicinity of the deceased’s home address, partially changed his clothing and then attacked the deceased with a knife causing 25 stab wounds. A police officer purported to make a comparison between known images of the defendant and the attacker on CCTV. This evidence was successfully excluded. Other evidence was undermined with careful analysis between eye witness accounts and corresponding phone and geo-spatial evidence for the relevant times.
The case was heard at Birmingham Crown Court.
