Murder accused tells jury he lied to police about rake because he 'did not want to get into trouble'

Ashley Harris has pleaded not guilty to both murder and a lesser charge of the manslaughter of Anthony Wootton, and on Wednesday he took to the witness box as the case for the defence began.

"I never attacked this man with the rake," Harris, aged 32, told the jury in his trial at Stafford Crown Court.

"I never thought I needed to mention the rake."

Under questioning from defence barrister Michael Ivers KC, Harris said he had "lied and stuck to it". He said: "I panicked, I was scared. There is nothing else I can say.

"I felt **** and I was scared."

Harris had given a statement to police on Monday, July 17, 2023, soon after it had become known that Mr Wootton's body had been found 180 metres away from the scene of an incident in Armstrong Close, the previous evening.

But he did not tell officers about the rake, which had been taken away and left under a neighbour's garden shed.

The jury was shown a video clip of the two men brawling on the paving in the close, with neighbours around. Harris said he had helped Mr Wootton's partner to get away from him after being attacked.

But Mr Wootton had got up and walked off after the brawl.

"There didn't appear to be anything wrong with him," said Harris.

The trial has heard that Mr Wootton had suffered blood loss after his spleen had been ruptured.

Jurors have heard evidence that he could have died between 30 and 90 minutes later. The prosecution case is that Harris had attacked Mr Wootton with a garden rake.

Harris said he had been told that Mr Wootton had died of an overdose. His body was found in the car park at Orient Court off Gresley Close in Woodside.

Mr Ivers went through the statement point-by-point, in which his client had given consistent information about the incident.