Four people accused of killing Carlisle man Lee McKnight have pleaded not guilty to the allegation.
The quartet, including a mother and daughter, appeared at Carlisle Crown Court this afternoon .
They are Jamie Andrew Davison, aged 26, of Beverley Rise, Carlisle; Carol Diane Edgar, 47, of The Crescent, Cummersdale; Coral Edgar, 26, of Charles Street; and Jamie Lee Roberts, 18, of Grey Street, both Carlisle.
All stand accused of the murder of 26-year-old Mr McKnight on 24th July last year.
During a 35-minute court hearing in front of Judge Simon Medland QC, Coral Edgar and Carol Edgar pleaded not guilty to the murder allegation from the court dock, while Davison and Roberts denied the same charge as they appeared over separate video links from custody.
All four defendants face a charge brought as part of a large scale investigation conducted by detectives into the death of Mr McKnight. Police cordoned off a vast area around a stretch of the River Caldew in the city after receiving a call, at 5-24am on 24th July last year, that his body had been found in the water in the Blackwell Hall area near Cummersdale.
A fifth defendant, 40-year-old Janice Edgar, of Charles Street, Carlisle, pleaded not guilty to a separate charge which alleges the assisting of an offender.
This alleges that she assisted at an address “with the intent to conceal evidence” of an alleged attack on Mr McKnight.
They are all now due to stand trial in front of a jury. This hearing is set to start on 10th May and is expected to last several weeks.
In the meantime all five defendants were remanded in custody by Judge Medland.
- Two other men who also stand accused of the killing were unable to attend court today because of complications linked to COVID. They are due to attend on a future date.
