KIERAN WILLIAMS MURDER TRIAL: Teen found buried in makeshift grave died from blood loss caused by stab wounds, jury told

Kieran Williams, 18, was last seen on April 18 last year, when he visited his mother's home in Sunderland and he was never heard from again.

Newcastle Crown Court heard six weeks later he was found buried, with multiple stab wounds, in a clandestine grave at a secluded spot in a former industrial estate near the Northern Spire Bridge in the city.

Ben Cook, 19, of Fordfield Road, and Louis Hackett, 20, of Fordenbridge Square, both Sunderland, deny Kieran's murder and are being tried by a jury.

Jurors have heard Kieran suffered "at least 20" stab wounds to his chest, torso, neck and had injuries to his hands, arms, legs and feet, which may have been from trying to protect himself.

Pathologist Peter Nigel Cooper told jurors he carried out a post mortem on Kieran's body after it was found.

When asked by prosecutor David Lamb KC what the cause of Kieran's death was, the doctor replied: "Death was due to haemmorhage, or bleeding, and that was due to stab wounds to the chest."

Dr Cooper said a stab wound to Kieran's aorta, a main artery in the body, was "the most relevant".

The trial continues.