Jurors in the trial of two men accused of murdering Ryan Kirkpatrick in Carlisle have retired to start deliberations and consider their verdicts.
Kane Hull, 29, and Liam Craig Porter, 33, have been on trial at the city’s crown court for more than a week.
Hull and Porter deny charges which allege the murder and, alternatively, the manslaughter of Mr Kirkpatrick. The 24-year-old died after being stabbed three times by a masked attacker during an incident lasting barely 30 seconds in front of bystanders inside the Carlyle’s Court complex, off Fisher Street, at just after 8-45pm on Saturday, September 18 last year.
Hull and Porter are said to accept their presence at an initial incident 15 minutes before that during which Hull and Mr Kirkpatrick were involved in a confrontation. But they deny being present at the second incident when Mr Kirkpatrick was fatally stabbed as two masked people entered Carlyle’s Court.
The prosecution allege that Hull and Porter came together to form “team murder” and that that they were “in it together” “with the joint plan that Ryan Kirkpatrick was to be stabbed”.
They are said to have been “helped by friends” as they “took significant steps to evade the police and not be arrested” in the aftermath. Hull, of no fixed address, and Porter, of Fulmar Place, Carlisle, were detained by police in Southern Ireland on 28th September, 10 days after Mr Kirkpatrick’s death, before entering not guilty pleas to the charges they face.
Mr Justice Linden concluded his summing-up of evidence in the case today (fri) after closing speeches by prosecution and defence barristers. He had previously told the jury of seven women and five men to put aside emotions, and to assess the evidence “objectively and dispassionately”.
Before the jury began deliberations, Mr Justice Linden asked them to put any thoughts of “majority verdicts out of their minds at this time, saying: “Please concentrate on reaching verdicts on which all 12 of you are agreed.”
