Brother relives knife tragedy at hearing

A man has relived the moment he saw his brother being knifed to death outside a Black Country wedding reception during a court hearing.

Stuart Berry, aged 37, said: "Tom was lying on the floor on his back and Ricky Shaw was bent over the top of him stabbing down at him. I did not see the knife go into him but I could see Ricky's face.

"I will never forget that sight." It happened after Stuart Berry was kicked and punched as guests from a Bilston Town Hall wedding reception clashed with people after a fight outside the Spread Eagle pub, on the other side of the road.

He told told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday he, his brother, and cousin Stephen Howell leapt over railings to confront "four or five" men who shouted abuse at teenage children from the wedding party. He added: "We met them head on to stop them coming towards the children.

"I went up the street a bit and had a scuffle with two of them. They got hold of me and I just covered up my head with my hands while they punched and kicked out at me. I stumbled, got away and started running.

"I saw my brother on the floor of the ramp to the town hall.

"I carried on running because I was worried about Ricky coming after me.

"Then I looked behind me and saw he was running back to the Spread Eagle. I went over to my brother and tried to help him."

Ashley Ryan, DJing at the pub before the July 10 stabbing, said he saw Shaw "plunge a knife" into father-of-two Tom Berry, 34, after an "altercation" involving the pair and others.

Pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt said some of 23 blunt impact injuries, were "consistent with being in a fight". Shaw, 22, of no fixed address, denies murdering Mr Berry, trying to murder two others and assaulting his step brother.

The trial continues.