Murder scene man's 'moment of madness'

A man picked up a bloodstained dumbbell bar from a Black Country murder scene in a "moment of madness," a court was told.

Scott Wilkes is accused of having the offensive weapon during the fracas outside a wedding reception in Bilston, during which father Tom Berry was murdered.

Wilkes, aged 26, told a jury at Stafford Crown Court: "I heard a scream as I turned a corner and saw a lot of people. Bottles were flying and broken glass was on the ground.

"I could see two bodies on the ground with blood all over them. The dumbbell was lying by them.

There were a lot of people running around so I got the thing out of the way." He confessed in a statement to detectives that was read to the court: "I picked it up in a moment of madness."

The foot-long bar fell to the ground when he was stopped by police as he left the spot where Tom Berry had been fatally wounded and three other men stabbed on July 10 last year.

Wilkes, of Duberville Road, Parkfields, denies having a knife and being in possession of an offensive weapon, the dumbbell bar.

Yesterday he was cleared of an affray charge allegedly committed during the confrontation on the advice of Recorder James Burbage QC, who said there was not enough evidence to proceed.

Tragedy struck after a crowd gathered outside the Spread Eagle in Lichfield Street, Bilston clashed with guests from a wedding reception attended by Mr Berry and his family that was being held in the town hall on the opposite side of the street.

Ricky Shaw was found guilty of the murder of Mr Berry and the other stabbings after a trial at Wolverhampton Crown court earlier this year, the jury was told.

The trial continues.