A barrister representing the man accused of killing Ryan Kirkpatrick in Carlisle told the jury there was not enough evidence to convict him of murder and manslaughter charges.
Toby Hedworth KC represents Kane Hull who, along with a second man, Liam Craig Porter, denies killing 24-year-old Mr Kirkpatrick.
Mr Kirkpatrick died after a masked attacker knifed him three times during an incident lasting barely 30 seconds at 8.47pm inside Carlyle’s Court on September 18 last year. This came around 15 minutes after a confrontation involving him and Hull at the complex when Porter was also present.
Hull and Porter are said to deny being presence at this second incident but have given no evidence during their trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
Jurors have been told 29-year-old Hull’s previous convictions include one in 2017 for affray and offensive weapon possession after Mr Kirkpatrick was attacked in a betting shop.
During the trial, one witness told jurors he was passing Carlyle’s Court and saw two unmasked men leaving, one saying to the other: “That f***ing b******d got me locked up last time.”
Mr Hedworth suggested there was no attempted glassing by Hull during incident one before he left the scene with Porter at just after 8.30pm.
“That, we submit, as far as Mr Hull was concerned — you can tell the way he leaves the scene — was there end of it,” said the barrister. He asked: “Is he (Hull) really going to go away and come back to someone who has ‘got him locked up’? In the city centre, a crowded place, no doubt police officers not far away. Is he going to come and walk into the jaws of a lion?”
Mr Hedworth offered possibilities and one scenario about why Hull may have elected not to give evidence.
He had stressed right at the start of his address: “Please understand that nothing I say in this address to you on behalf of Kane Hull should be seen to diminish the loss that his family and those closest to him obviously feel and continue to feel,” said Mr Hedworth.
He spoke of rumours identifying an alleged suspect circulating soon after the incident. “Kane Hull also knew very quickly what was being said and what the consequences for him were going to be,” said Mr Hedworth of his subsequent trip to Ireland, where he was arrested on September 28.
“The prosecution allege he has committed the most serious crime in the criminal calendar. It is the prosecution who have got to prove they are right about that,” he concluded. “Is the evidence brought here before you sufficient to allow you to be sure? We submit it is not. It is nowhere near the sort of level.
“If we are right about that, if that’s what you conclude, the only appropriate verdict is not guilty.”
Liam Walker KC began his address on behalf of 33-year-old Porter to the jury before proceedings were halted for the day. Porter is alleged by the prosecution to have offered back up and support to what Mr Walker accepted was a vicious, callous and cowardly crime.
“Ryan Kirkpatrick was attacked by one person, not two. There is no dispute about that. By a man who was out of control. By a man who must be, must he not, terrifying. There is no dispute about that,” said Mr Walker. “The killer, for that’s what he was, and is, was not assisted or encouraged by anyone.”
He added: “None of the seven eyewitnesses (called by the prosecution) said that a second man assisted or encouraged the killer to do what he did. None of them did. None of them said that.”
Mr Walker is due to conclude his closing speech tomorrow after which the judge, Mr Justice Linden, will sum up evidence before jurors retire to begin their deliberations.
