Fatal stabbing of grandfather in Wolverhampton filmed by witness, jury hears
A witness in a tower block filmed a group of men fighting moments before a grandfather was fatally stabbed in a shopping centre car park, a jury was told.
Martin Latham, 41, was stabbed eight times in the chest outside Asda, in Heath Town, Wolverhampton, just after 9pm on September 6 last year and died later in hospital.
The defendant Brian Willington is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court accused of the murder of Mr Latham, who lived in Ward Street, in Ettingshall.
Giving evidence in the witness box for the prosecution, a woman on Monday told the jury she had been visiting a friend's flat in a nearby tower block, when she spotted a group of men fighting in the car park opposite.
She told the court that she was on the balcony when she heard voices shouting from below and that she filmed part of the incident on her mobile phone. She told the court that she could not recall which part of the incident she had caught on film and that she was not sure which of the men she captured fighting.
"When I looked there were some men fighting. There were four of them. At one point there were three men on one. They were at the bottom of the car park near the walkway by the hedge," she said.
"Then at some point the fighting was one on one.
"Male three and male four were just standing around.
"At that point male one and male two fell into the hedge and male one dragged the other man down to the floor causing him to land on his back. They were just grabbing each other.
"I just remember seeing male two on the floor with a large amount of blood around him. By this time people started to come out of Asda and male three and four were there too.
"Male one left. He walked off over towards Farm Foods," she added.
Prosecuting barrister Michael Duck QC played the footage to the jury.
The jury was previously show closed circuit footage and more than 150 photographs relating to the fatal incident.
The prosecution allege that Willington stabbed Mr Latham, who was acting as peacemaker, after consuming a cocktail of alcohol and drugs and that the defendant was part of a group who hung around the store off Wolverhampton Road and begged shoppers for money.
Willington, 33, of Hawkley Close, Moseley, denies murder and denies having an article with a blade or a point in a public place. The trial continues.
