A young woman accused of murder has denied being part of a deliberate plan to lure Lee McKnight to the scene of a deadly attack at her Carlisle home — while it was also revealed the youngest suspect will give no evidence to a jury.
Six people are on trial accused of murdering 26-year-old Mr McKnight, whose body was found in a city river after he was badly beaten in an address at Charles Street and transported to the water while still alive.
They include Coral Edgar, at whose home the violence occurred, and 18-year-old Jamie Lee Roberts who — according to another defendant, Jamie Davison — is alleged to have been solely to blame for the shocking assault in the early hours of July 24 last year.
Edgar, 26, began giving evidence to jurors at Carlisle Crown Court this afternoon. She spoke of her life being “a chaotic mess” against a catalogue of distressing personal problems, mental health issues and “really bad” drug addiction which saw her weight plummet to less than six stones.
She sourced her drugs, she said, from Mr McKnight, and spoke of having an intimate relationship with him for a “couple of months” early in 2020.
Before discussing the precise events of 24th July, Caroline Goodwin QC asked Edgar: “What do you think about what happened to Lee?”
“Horrible. Sad. Feel sorry for his family,” said Edgar.
“Did you have anything to do with a deliberate plan to get him down to other house so he could be beaten up?” asked Ms Goodwin. “No. Definitely not,” Edgar replied.
“Did you lure him? Did you trick him? Did you deceive him?” the barrister asked. To each question, Edgar responded: “No.”
“At that stage in your life, how important was Lee McKnight to you?” Ms Goodwin asked.
“Very,” said Edgar, who also replied “no” when her barrister asked: “Would there have been any possible advantage to you in causing him the suffering that he went through?”
Earlier in the afternoon, Jamie Lee Roberts’ barrister, Richard Littler QC, confirmed the teenager — aged 17 in July last year — would not be giving any evidence from the court witness box.
He replied in the affirmative as Mr Justice Hilliard asked, as is standard: “Have you advised your client that the stage has now been reached at which he may give evidence and, if he chooses not to do so, or, if having gone into the witness box he refuses to answer any questions without good reason, the jury may decide to draw such inferences as may appear proper from his failure to do so?”
All six defendants deny murder, and the trial continues.
