A BOY has told a jury he briefly handled a knife used in a town centre cashpoint robbery – but insisted he had no involvement in the crime or its planning.
The 14-year-old is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. He and Paul Stuchfield, 19, each deny one charge alleging conspiracy to rob, on January 16.
On that date a woman was robbed at knifepoint and injured with a blade outside Barclays Bank in Penrith’s Market Square at around 6pm. Jurors have heard a 16-year-old youth admits being the robber.
Giving evidence today (TUES), the 14-year-old told how he was in the robber’s company elsewhere in Penrith earlier that day, and was given something. “I realised it was a knife and then just dropped it,” said the boy. “I just grabbed it, looked at it and dropped it.” Jurors have heard a partial DNA profile obtained from the handle of the knife used in the robbery was matched to that of the 14-year-old.
Later that day, just before the crime, the boy said the 16-year-old told he and others while in a town churchyard “he was going to rob someone, and pulled a balaclava up and around his face”.
“I was like ‘why are you going to to that?’, and he just seemed to laugh,” said the boy, who recalled announcing his intention to instead go to a supermarket. But he said of Stuchfield, who was also present: “Paul said he would go with (the youth), and pulled a neck warmer up to his eyes.”
It is alleged the boy and Stuchfield, of Kirkoswald, near Penrith, were heard hatching a plan in a town McDonald’s to rob someone shortly before the crime actually occurred. The boy’s barrister, Kim Whittlestone, asked him: “Did you agree with Paul Stuchfield and (the youth) to commit a robbery?” The boy replied: “No.”
The trial continues.
