LITTLE HARROWDEN MURDER TRIAL: 'Case against 16-year-old is paper thin'

The prosecution’s case against a 16-year-old boy charged with Stevie Pentelow’s murder and conspiracy to rob him of drugs has been described as “paper thin” by his barrister.

Stevie, 44, died after he was stabbed in Little Harrowden in June last year in "an attack that lasted seconds".

Sifean Ghilani, 20, of Winstanley Road, Wellingborough, Tristan Patel, 18, of Newcomen Road, Wellingborough, Levar Thomas, 20, of Knox Road, Wellingborough, and a 16-year-old boy from Wellingborough are all charged with conspiracy to rob him of Class A drugs and with his murder.

Jonathan Rees QC, representing the youngest defendant in the trial who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury in his closing speech: “There is nothing in the prosecution evidence to contradict [the 16-year-old’s account].

“They stand before you and say on this evidence, you can safely convict this 16-year-old of murder.

“A claim completely without foundation.”

The 16-year-old told police he was at the scene and had not been involved in the incident. He said he got out of the car to see what was going on and then got back in when others shouted at him to do so.

The boy decided not to give evidence in court, a decision which Mr Rees reminded the jury he was entitled to take.

Mr Rees took the jury through eyewitness accounts of the incident which he said supported his client’s account.

He said Sophie Hughes, the drug user who set up the fateful drug deal between Ghilani and Stevie Pentelow, had told the court the boy did not get involved.

Mr Rees said: “She told you (the 16-year-old) was the last one out of the three.

“She told police...he didn’t actually get out until after the violence began. [It] all rather fits with him getting out to see what was going on.

“She said he didn’t have a knife. She said she had no recollection of him taking part in the attack.

“Apart from getting out the car, the only action she associated with him was him jumping back.”

Mr Rees told the jury: “I cannot do better than that, a witness saying he didn’t take part.”

Mr Rees said other eyewitnesses supported this and described their accounts.

He said of one witness: “His impression was of people scuffling.

“He said it looked like legs were lashing out but he didn’t see any contact. It may have been Babs (Mr Pentelow’s nickname) trying to get away.”

The prosecution opened their case by saying the 16-year-old boy may have been responsible for kicking Mr Pentelow, but the pathologist confirmed that there were no fresh injuries to the victim’s legs.

Mr Rees said the prosecution was “desperately trying to tie (the 16-year-old) to some sort of aggressive act".

He said: “There is no such evidence. All he saw was scuffling.

An anonymous witness, who first became aware of the incident when she heard shouting, said she saw two males and a female around Stevie Pentelow and her descriptions of the men have been attributed to Ghilani and Patel.

Mr Rees said: “When she noticed the car...she saw someone in the driver's seat and at least one person in the back of the car.

“That has to be (the 16-year-old).

“When she sees the violence, her evidence is he was not taking part. [It] hardly fits with the suggestion he was there to assist Sifean Ghilani to stab Stevie Pentelow with murderous intent.”

Mr Rees asked the jury: “If he was there to assist and encourage Sifean Ghilani as some sort of back-up, then why didn’t he get involved?

“What’s his contribution? Where is his contribution?

“There is no evidence beyond which [the boy] admitted in his police interview.”

He added: “He was on the trip by chance.”

The boy had been with Patel earlier in the day and had decided to go “along for the ride”, which Mr Rees said was a normal teenage thing to do.

Mr Rees dismissed the idea he had been part of a conspiracy to rob Mr Pentelow.

He said: “The topic has been covered by others (in their closing speeches). The evidence really does not fit with the prosecution’s theory there was a plan to rob.

“We respectfully suggest the prosecution have tried to shoehorn this case into a robbery model and it doesn’t fit.”

Mr Rees told the jury: “He (the 16-year-old) is not a drug dealer, he only had one phone. He hadn’t known Tristan Patel very long and had only met Sifean Ghilani a few times.

“Ghilani is said to be the driving force behind this plan, so why would (the 16-year-old) become involved with all the risks that go with it, on behalf of Sifean Ghilani, someone he barely knows?

“There’s no evidence he was to benefit in any way.”

Mr Rees told the jury his client had got caught up in events not of his own making.

Quoting Sophie Hughes, who told the court she wanted to see justice for her friend Mr Pentelow, Mr Rees finished by telling the jury: “Justice would not be served by wrongfully convicting someone for a crime they did not commit.”

Mr Rees was the last barrister to give his closing speech. The judge then reviewed the evidence heard during the trial before the jury retired to consider their verdict.