A father has told jurors of a sizeable drug debt his son owed a fellow Lee McKnight murder suspect — and said it was “suggested” the teen “go and rob the Spar” by way of repayment.
Paul Roberts, 51, is one of six people accused of murdering Mr McKnight, and has become the final defendant to give evidence during their Carlisle Crown Court trial.
Asked about his knowledge of other suspects, Roberts said he’d known Carol Edgar, 47, for more than 30 years, and her daughter Coral, 26, “since she was in nappies”.
Roberts said in the weeks before Mr McKnight’s death, on July 24 last year, Arron Graham, also 26, had been a regular visitor to the family home in Grey Street, Carlisle, at which his son, 18-year-old Jamie Lee Roberts, also lived.
And of another defendant, Jamie Davison, Roberts senior said: “The way I got to know him was through my son owing him money.”
Roberts said he understood the debt was around £1,400 and repaid £600 of the arrears himself to drug dealing “middle man” Davison. With the outstanding amount less than four figures and believing “you are not going to get hurt for that”, Roberts told his son to stay away from Davison, who is alleged to have lured Mr McKnight to a Charles Street address and started deadly violence.
But Roberts later found out his son was further in debt to the dealer, owing, he thought, about £2,500. He also learned of a call to his son’s “burner phone” involving “not just Jamie Davison” but “others”. “They were Geordies, that’s all I knew,” said Roberts. “They had told him if he didn’t get this money together, they were going to come around and were going to do him in; they were going to chop my head off.
“And then it was suggested he go and rob the Spar around the corner.”
Roberts recalled his son “became quite erratic” in the weeks before 24th July. “He was drinking a lot, which was never a good thing for Jamie Lee to be doing. A lot of cocaine,” he told jurors.
Late on 23rd July, despite being subject to a night-time curfew, Jamie Lee was hugged by his father and left the Grey Street address with Roberts. “When Jamie Lee and Arron Graham left your house, did you know where they were going?” Roberts was asked by his barrister, Gordon Cole QC.
Roberts replied: “No.”
Roberts said he knew neither Mr McKnight, nor of money he owed Davison.
But Roberts accepted he went to Charles Street during the early hours of July 24.
“You accept taking items from (the address) and disposing of those items,” said Mr Cole, who asked: “Did you knowingly take or dispose of any items that belonged to Lee McKnight?”
“No sir,” said Roberts.
Jurors have previously heard that neither Carol Edgar nor Jamie Lee Roberts will give evidence from the witness box.
All six defendants deny murder, and the trial continues.
