Corby robbery accused went to buy crack as his friend lay dying in street

A witness has told a crown court trial how defendant Jamie Magee came to his house to buy crack after he and Wes Brown had allegedly robbed a trap-house in Corby.

Magee, 32, and his friend Mr Brown had gone to rob the home of Billy Hynds and Jacob Sawa in Derwent Walk just after midnight on April 11, 2020, a jury heard.

After the incident, the pair both left the property and went in separate directions. Mr Brown collapsed in a garden in nearby Humber Walk. Although police officers battled to save his life, he was sadly declared dead on arrival at Kettering General Hospital.

Meanwhile, the court was told, Magee had gone to spend the stolen money on crack cocaine.

On the second day of a robbery trial at Leicester Crown Court, a jury heard of the moment that Mel Magee told her brother Jamie Magee that his alleged accomplice and the father of her children, Wes Brown, had been seriously injured.

She had been called to Humber Walk some time after 12.30am by a resident who knew her to find Mr Brown being tended to by the emergency services.

He had a deep laceration to his wrist, caused by a Stanley knife which police officers found by his side. He was able to tell them that he had been in a fight with four others before he lost consciousness.

By about 2am Mel Magee was back at home and had not yet been told of Mr Brown's death when she spoke to her brother Jamie Magee on the phone.

A distressing transcript of a phonecall between the pair was read to the jury.

In it, Magee said to his sister: "I'm telling you I've left him £800 to you and him. I'm just getting out of here."

Mel Magee replied: "I don't see why you've got to run if you've done nothing wrong?"

Jamie Magee then asked her where Wes Brown was and if he had 'gone back to that house'.

"He's in a f***** garden. He's on the field side unconscious," she replied.

Jamie Magee told her that nobody had got hurt in the house.

Mel Magee replied: "No-one was hurt? You said they had a fight. But nobody was hurt? What happened to Wes?"

"I was here waiting for him to come, I don't know," replied Jamie Magee.

Mel Magee said: "He didn't come because he's been taken to hospital.”

After Jamie Magee offered her the money, she told him she didn’t want it and would burn it.

"That's all my kids' dad is worth?" she said.

Meanwhile, Corby man Paul Borrell was awoken in the early hours on April 11 by his door buzzer 'going non-stop.' It was Magee who had arrived to buy some crack cocaine.

Mr Borrell said 'jumpy' Magee had taken money out of a bumbag and he had sold him ten deals of crack - worth about £100.

He was asked by prosecutor Nadia Silver if he had seen how much money was in the bum bag.

"I didn't pry," he said. "I was hoping he'd go so I could get back to bed."

But Magee stayed for about an hour while the pair smoked some crack. Then Magee received a second call from his sister.

"Jamie was saying he's dead," said Mr Borrell. "They were obviously talking about Wes Brown.

"To me, Wes was bullet-proof. We were both in shock."

Magee asked Borrell for a change of clothing and left.

He went to ground and was arrested two days later in a house in Wellington Street, Kettering.

The jury was also shown still images from CCTV inside the Derwent Walk property run by the Amicus Trust that allegedly showed Magee removing a bum bag from dealer Jacob Sawa. Pictures also showed Wes Brown with what the prosecution alleged was a knuckle duster and a knife after he threw a punch at Mr Sawa and then grappled with him for several minutes.

One of the dealers living in the house, Billy Hynds, was also shown getting a knife. Stills also showed Jamie Magee jabbing forward at one of the victims with what appeared to be a knife.

Jurors were told that neither Mr Sawa or Mr Hynds had made any allegation of theft and neither had ever agreed to make a witness statement to police

Magee denies robbery and possession of a knife in a public place. The trial continues.