Accused in alleged murder 'confession'

A man might have been overheard "confessing" to murder after Black Country wedding guest Tom Berry was stabbed to death, a jury heard.

Police were looking for 22-year-old Ricky Shaw when he met an acquaintance, Mark Rafferty, and reportedly said: "I need somewhere to stay", Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Mr Peter Grieves-Smith said: "The defendant then said 'I have done something bad' and, when asked to explain, he added 'it was something worse than a fight.'"

The lawyer continued: "Mr Rafferty then heard Shaw on the phone, apparently talking to a female and saying: 'Everything I have done, I have done it all for you. If anyone is dead, it is because I have done it for you.'"

Mr Grieves-Smith told the jury yesterday: "What he was saying, you might think, was an admission of murder."

Shaw, of no fixed address, was arrested on July 16 last year, six days after Mr Berry and three other people had been knifed around midnight outside the Spread Eagle pub in Lichfield Street, Bilston.

The murder victim, who had stepped outside a wedding reception being held at the town hall, was stabbed twice in the chest collapsing his right lung and piercing his liver, the court heard.

Shaw had allegedly been armed with a knife when he and a friend ran to the Spread Eagle after being told a woman they knew had fallen or been knocked down during a row there.

Wedding guest Stephen Howell was stabbed several times during a chase before escaping and then Spread Eagle customer Talvinder Singh was wounded after telling the attacker to calm down, it was claimed.

Mr Berry was then knifed moments after Adam Shaw, the half brother of the defendant, was cut on the left thigh trying to restrain the knife man, it was claimed.

Ricky Shaw admits wounding Mr Howell but denies doing so with intent and is expected to suggest that he acted in self defence, the court learned.

Shaw, who allegedly left the scene after the stabbings, pleads not guilty to murdering Mr Berry, attempting to murder both Mr Howell and Mr Singh and assaulting his own half brother.

The trial continues.