A 29-year-old accused of manslaughter following the death of a man several days after an incident inside a Whitehaven home has appeared in court.
Lewis Knight faces one charge alleging manslaughter and that on or before March 28 last year, he unlawfully killed Marc Wright contrary to common law.
Knight appeared at Workington Magistrates’ Court this morning.
During a short hearing, the charge was put to Knight by a court legal advisor but no plea was entered to the allegation by the defendant.
Pam Fee, prosecuting, gave the court a brief outline of the alleged circumstances.
There had, she alleged, been an incident at 39-year-old’s Mr Wright’s address in Whitehaven on March 22 last year. He had sustained an injury.
“A number of days later, having had a significant decline in his health, there was a cardiac arrest and Mr Wright has passed away on that morning,” said Ms Fee.
As he sat in the dock, Knight — wearing a grey zip-up top — heard the charge was so serious that it could not be dealt with at the magistrates’ court. As a result the case was sent to Carlisle Crown Court, where he is due to appear in front of a judge on Monday, October 24.
In the meantime Knight, who gave his address as a caravan park at St Bees, was granted bail by the magistrates.
There are a number of conditions, including that he must not contact a number of named witnesses in the case.
A second condition prohibits him from entering an exclusion zone outlined on a map of the Whitehaven area which Knight — who said he was representing himself during today’s hearing — told the court he had seen.
