Dying man's help call after attack
A man who was beaten to death in Bilston tried to mouth for help as he lay dying in the arms of a good samaritan - a murder trial jury was told.
Steven Bircher was the first to find Peter White, after he had been brutally attacked on a park bench in Church Street. Mr Bircher was rushing to catch a bus from the nearby station when he spotted the 47-year-old "out of the corner" of his eye. He noticed Mr White's legs poking out from behind a rubbish bin and went to his aid.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, the witness said: "The guy was slumped up against a wall and had blood around his nose and mouth. I went to his aid to see if there was something I could do.
"I spoke to him to see if he was OK and he tried to respond. He tried to mouth something, but couldn't speak or move. He was trying to mouth some words to me."
Mr Bircher then called 999 from a nearby phone box as staff from the bus station turned up to help. One man administered CPR until the ambulance arrived around three minutes later.
Jason Talbot and Arthur Henry, also known as Tattooed Tony, are accused of murdering Mr White, an odd-job man of Bilston Road, at 4.30pm on October 9 last year.
Mr White was killed in an area of Church Street known as The Horseshoe.
The court heard yesterday how 34-year-old Talbot had been involved in another fight just hours before.
Talbot and Henry, aged 45 of Rosemary Avenue, The Lunt, both deny murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility as they were drunk. The trial continues.
