Wedding guest killed by knifeman, jury told

A knifeman murdered a wedding guest moments before stabbing his own stepbrother, a court heard.

Ricky Shaw had already plunged the blade into two other people when he turned on Thomas Berry, the jury was told.

The victim was said to have had no time to defend himself before being stabbed through the lung and liver during an "indiscriminate and deadly attack" in a Bilston street.

The attacker's stepbrother Adam Shaw grabbed him from behind said prosecutor Mr Peter Grieves-Smith.

"As he pulled him away, Thomas Berry fell to the floor bleeding and with eyes staring,:" said Mr Grieves-Smith. "Adam was stabbed in the left thigh in a movement of reaction and Ricky said something like 'sorry' before running off."

Mr Berry died early the morning after the incident, which happened shortly before midnight on July 10 in Lichfield Street, between the Spread Eagle pub and the town hall where he had been attending a wedding reception.

Shaw rushed to the pub after being told the mother of his friend Gareth Morgan's girlfriend had been pushed or punched to the floor during a row,Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

"This must have affected his mood as he ran to the scene because the defendant had quite deliberately armed himself with a knife," continued Mr Grieves-Smith.

"There was shouting and swearing and the threat of somebody going to get a gun after Ricky Shaw and Gareth Morgan arrived at the Spread Eagle. On the other side of the road people were outside the wedding party having a cigarette or waiting for a taxi. There were children among them."

He added: "Threats were issued although it is unclear who issued them first, but it was perhaps inevitable that once this happened, against a background of alcohol and tension, trouble followed. There was a confrontation between people from the Spread Eagle and the wedding party."

Shaw, of no fixed address, denies murder, attempted murder and assault.

The trial continues.