LITTLE HARROWDEN MURDER TRIAL: "Where are the drugs?"

The closing statements continue at the trial into the murder of Stevie Pentelow last June
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In the closing speeches for the trial of three men and a 16-year-old boy accused of murdering Stevie Pentelow in Little Harrowden last June, the defendant who accepts he stabbed the victim has refuted the idea there was a conspiracy to rob.

Mr Naeem Mian QC, representing Sifean Ghilani, asked the jury that if there was a conspiracy to rob Mr Pentelow then: “Where are the drugs?”

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He cited the lack of evidence to suggest an attempt at a robbery and said: “No body says any of these individuals, let alone Ghilani, frisked Mr Pentelow when they arrived in Little Harrowden.”

Police at the scene in Little Harrowden last yearPolice at the scene in Little Harrowden last year
Police at the scene in Little Harrowden last year

Mr Mian reminded the jury of a deal in January and said: “During that drugs deal, Mr Pentelow didn’t have the drugs on him. He went away having received the money and retrieved the drugs.

“Why, if there was a plan to rob, would Mr Ghilani want to go to the drug dealer (in Little Harrowden)...not knowing whether or not Mr Pentelow would have the drugs on him, and not knowing who else was going to be in the vicinity?

“Why would they end up in a residential area in Little Harrowden where people are walking their dogs and there’s all the world to see.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

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Making similar points to Mr Jo Sidhu QC, who spoke yesterday representing Levar Thomas, Mr Mian asked why men planning to rob would go to the scene in a car registered to Thomas’ mother and fitted with a black box.

Mr Mian also said it "is probably a bad idea" to have taken Sophie Hughes, a friend of Stevie Pentelow's and the person who organised the deal, when she was not part of the plan.

He said: "Common sense decides that these factors when considered carefully suggest there was not a plan to rob in place.

"It just doesn’t make sense."

Mr John Cammegh QC, representing Tristan Patel, told the jury: “Without a conspiracy to rob, a murder doesn’t make sense.

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“If the conspiracy to rob is not shown then the motive to attack someone with a knife or not becomes even more unlikely.”

Mr Cammegh told the jury that the case against Patel rests on the evidence of Sophie Hughes, he said had "twisted and turned her account with gymnastic ability".

He took the jury through her interviews with police and her evidence in court.

In an interview with police on June 24, Ms Hughes said: "I saw him (Patel) stab him (Mr Pentelow.)

"I saw him go like that into his stomach."

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Asked by police what happened next, Ms Hughes said: "He's pulled it out and done it again."

She then said she saw Gihlani stab him as well, so her account suggested she saw Mr Pentelow stabbed three times.

Mr Cammegh said: "Three into one won't go."

He referred to the evidence given by pathologist Professor Guy Rutty, who confirmed Mr Pentelow died of a single stab wound through the ribs to the heart inflicted by a straight edged knife.

Ms Hughes told police Patel was holding a jagged knife, she said: "It wasn't a kitchen knife, it was a horrible gang type knife."

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Asked what type of knife Ghilani had, she told police: "The same, it just looked the same."

Mr Cammegh said her account was "nonsense".

The jury have been shown the knife that Gihlani has accepted he stabbed Mr Pentelow with.

Mr Cammegh said Ms Hughes' evidence at trial had departed from her original account.

She was asked to describe the knife Ghilani had and said: "Ghilani had a knife that looked more like a kitchen knife."

Mr Cammegh said: "She’s clearly contradicted herself."

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He added: "This is the basis on which the prosecution seek to convict this man (gesturing towards Patel in the dock) who was 18 at the time...of murder."

Mr Cammegh maintains the attack started unprovoked by Mr Pentelow after Patel approached him with a fist bump greeting.

"Tristan Patel was struck, he hit back, he gave chase.

"Whatever Ghilani did was nothing to do with him and entirely outside his line of vision," said Mr Cammegh.

The trial continues.