JACK WOODLEY MURDER TRIAL: Youth who stabbed teen to death said 'it was an accident,' jury hears

Jack Woodley was murdered by ten youths who were out "looking for serious trouble" after he left Houghton Feast last October, it is claimed.

The 18-year-old was punched, kicked, stamped on and stabbed in the back, a court has heard. He later died in hospital.

The teen who inflicted the fatal knife wound has told jurors "he should've never died" and said the stabbing happened accidentally.

Ten youths, now aged between 14 and 18, deny murder and are being tried by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

A 15-year-old, who accepts he stabbed Jack, has admitted manslaughter, which the other nine deny.

Giving evidence from the witness box, the young killer said he picked up a knife that night because he wanted to "scare people" after being told others at the fair were armed.

He told jurors he had the knife, which his parents did not know about, hidden in his bedroom and he picked it up when he left the fair and went to get his coat, shortly before the stabbing.

The youth, who did not know Jack, said he had been told while he was at the fair there was a possibility of a fight and that "Jack's friends possibly had knives on them".

He told jurors: "There was a lot of conversation going on, someone had mentioned go and get your knife. I wanted to go back anyway to get my coat on.

"I thought if Jack and his friends had knives and it was going to kick off I wanted to defend either myself or my friends if it came down to that.

"Also, I just wanted to scare people in a way, you know, Jack and his friends to maybe back off."

The youth said his knife was "quite big, it was quite scary to be honest" and he put it in the waistband of his joggers when he got to his house and took it back to the fair.

He told the court shortly after he got back to the fair, people started to leave and a fight did start.

He told jurors: "I heard someone say 'get out the chopper'. I didn't know if that was the lads I was with or Jack's friends because I was still under the thought of Jack and his mates have got knives."

He added: "I pulled out the knife to scare away Jack's friends and scare Jack and scare other people off."

The youth said he was holding his knife out in his hand and the next thing he knew was "seeing feathers in the air and looking at the knife and it was red".

He said just the tip of the knife was red and the feathers must have come from Jack's coat.

He added that he was unclear whether he had moved towards Jack in the moments before the stabbing and added: "It wasn't my intention to hurt Jack or even stab him.

"Literally, it happened so fast.

"It's possible either I've stumbled forwards, because there was a lot going on, or he has fell back onto it."

The youth's barrister Nicholas Lumley QC asked him: "You accept you killed him?"

He replied: "Yes I did."

The youth added: "Either I've stumbled forward or he's stumbled back and the type of knife was extremely sharp, it wouldn't have needed much force to go inside of someone, you know what I mean.

"I thought Jack and his friends had knives. Things happened fast.

"If I didn't pull out the knife and Jack's friends did have knives and they went to stab me or my friends it could have been the same case but for a different child.

"It was an accident, the whole thing, it should never have gone into him, he should've never died, he should never have been stabbed, the whole thing is anaccident.

"I never pulled the knife out with the intention to hurt Jack."

Prosecutors say that while only one youth inflicted the fatal stab wound, the other nine are guilty due to "the concept of joint enterprise".

The trial continues.