Fred Shand murder trial: 15-year-old defendant tells jury he had knife and balaclava to ‘look tough and scary’

The younger 15-year-old defendant charged with Fred Shand’s murder has told jurors that he wanted to look “as scary as possible” by wearing a balaclava and carrying a knife on the day of the fatal stabbing in Kingsthorpe.

Northampton Crown Court previously heard about a brawl the 15-year-old was involved in at Taco Bell in Walter Tull Way on March 20. During that altercation, the youth admitted punching a friend of Fred’s three times and pulling his hood.

This morning (July 24), the 15-year-old defendant was asked to recall what he remembered about the day after the Taco Bell incident when a fight took place at McDonalds in The Drapery in Northampton Town Centre on March 21.

The defendant said he was called by two different friends at around 4pm that day to tell him that between 30 and 40 people were out looking for him because of what happened in Taco Bell and three people had been assaulted.

“I was really scared, anxious, overthinking a lot,” the defendant said.

The 15-year-old was told that Fred and another male approached one of the defendant’s friends in McDonald’s and began asking him questions about where the defendant was.

The court heard that Fred and the other male began to punch and stamp on the defendant’s friend when they thought he was phoning the 15-year-old to come to McDonald’s.

The defendant said that at least four different videos of the fight were posted to social media and, by 5pm, “pretty much everyone who had a phone in Northampton” knew what had happened and was talking about it online even at 10pm later that evening.

Three different videos of the fight were then shown to the court and the defendant confirmed seeing all of them on the day it took place. He identified Fred in the video as stamping on his friend’s head and said he hit another one of his friends with a belt.

The 15-year-old said he met the older defendant, now aged 17, around a year ago through mutual friends and - by March this year - they had been “good friends” for about a month.

The court heard that a group chat was made between the younger defendant, the older defendant and one of the friends who was attacked at McDonalds and a “plan” was made to “beat up” Fred and his male friend.

“I want to see this yute get ****** up,” the friend messaged.

Mr Paul Hynes KC, the 15-year-old’s defence barrister, asked his client what he understood that to mean.

“To punch someone up,” the defendant replied. Giving examples, he said giving someone a black eye or “busting up their lip.” He denied making any plans to bring weapons to a fight or stab anyone.

Mr Hynes asked the 15-year-old if there are any “rules” about how boys his age fight other boys their own age.

“I want to say that, in a street fight, there is no rules. People know this but it's more how far do you want to take it,” the defendant replied.

Having made a “half plan” to carry out a “revenge attack” on Fred and his friend, the 15-year-old said that evening he was “not really angry” but “overthinking” a lot of things.

“What really scared me and made me overthink so much is the power that they have and what they were capable of,” he told the court, “If they have the power to gather around 30 people on a school day outside McDonalds and assault three people only because they knew me then what could they do if they found out my address and what would they have done? The reason they were at McDonalds was because of me. I am who they wanted.”

The 15-year-old said he did not inform his parents, police or any other authority figures about what was going on because people thinking he is a “snitch” would result in the situation becoming a “lot worse” for him. He added that he did not want his parents to be scared or find out that he had attacked another boy in Taco Bell.

The younger defendant was then questioned about the events on the day of Fred’s death.

He recalled leaving his house “late” with a man bag in his possession containing a balaclava, gloves, sunglasses and tissues.

When asked why he packed a balaclava, the 15-year-old said: “I thought I looked tough with it and really scary and that was an appearance I wanted.”

The court heard that his older co-defendant asked him to bring the balaclava, wear black clothes and “get your tools” - referring to the 15-year-old’s two knives.

The 15-year-old said that the initial plan was to pick up three other friends - including the individual in the group chat - before heading to Kingsthorpe College to find Fred and his friend - but this did not happen because they were behind on time.

The 15-year-old met his 17-year-old co-defendant in St Peters Square at around 14.48pm before they hired an electric scooter on the 15-year-old’s mum’s account. With the younger defendant driving, the pair rode the same e-scooter to the Racecourse, where the defendants exchanged knives near the tennis court in a blind spot with no cameras.

Despite both defendants carrying knives, the younger defendant told the court that they had no intention of using them as weapons, they were just “for show” to “scare” people and make them “back off.”

The 15-year-old said: “I never thought that someone was going to get stabbed. We wore all black clothes, wore balaclavas and thought if, at any point, I took [the knife] out they would run away.”

He claimed that a lot of people his age carry knives because the consequences for doing this are “not that serious” and “everyone thinks it’s a joke.”

The court heard that the older defendant then rode the e-scooter to Kingsthorpe College with the 15-year-old on it too and the younger defendant put on the balaclava “to look as scary as possible” when he found Fred and his friend.

At around 3.20pm, the defendants arrived at Kingsthorpe College but Fred and his friend were nowhere to be seen so the 17-year-old suggested they ride down to Harborough Road, where lots of students are known to hang around the shops.

The 15-year-old told the court that his co-defendant then took a picture of him on his phone, telling the younger defendant to “look really tough” in his balaclava with a knife to let Fred know that they had come looking for him.

He said he did this because he wanted Fred and his friend to “feel scared.”

What else has happened in the trial so far?

The two teenage boys from Northampton, who were aged 14 and 16 at the time but are now 15 and 17, pleaded not guilty to their murder charge before Northampton Crown Court on April 24. They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Miss Jane Bickerstaff KC, the prosecuting barrister, kickstarted the trial on Wednesday (July 12) with the prosecution opening after the jury was sworn in on Monday (July 10).

The court heard the younger defendant, aged 15, faces an additional charge of carrying an article with a blade or a sharp point in a public place – which he has already pleaded guilty to.

The court heard 16-year-old Rohan Shand, known as Fred, died after being stabbed near the Cock Hotel in Harborough Road at about 3.35pm on March 22 while on his way home from Kingsthorpe College.

Miss Bickerstaff KC, of the prosecution, told the court it was the 15-year-old male defendant that carried out the stabbing and he was accompanied by the 17-year-old in the planned “joint enterprise attack” – shown by CCTV footage in court.

The stabbing followed an altercation outside McDonalds in the Drapery, which the court heard took place the day before (March 21).

A male had his “face sliced with a belt buckle” during that “dispute” and the two defendants were a friend of his. The co-defendants believed Fred Shand was at the forefront of the group responsible.

The court heard that after the co-defendants arrived at Kingsthorpe College later than planned on March 22, they rode on scooter towards the town centre via Harborough Road.

The entire incident was over in seven seconds after Fred, his teen friend and the two co-defendants came together for the first time at 3.34pm on March 22 on the green in Harborough Road, the court heard.

The co-defendants fled the scene on foot to the home of the 17-year-old, where they were detained by police shortly after – along with what is believed to be the murder weapon, a second knife and clothing worn during the incident.

During the second day of the trial (Thursday, July 13) – the first in which witnesses were called on to give evidence by the prosecution – the court saw 360 degree imagery to give them an understanding of the area, as well as video footage that has been recovered from March 22.

On the morning of the third day of the trial (Friday, July 14), the pathologist that conducted Fred’s post-mortem examination gave her expert evidence on the cause of death.

This was followed by evidence given by the teen friend who was with Fred on the day of the fatal stabbing.

Kickstarting the second week (Tuesday, July 18), the two eyewitnesses who followed the co-defendants home after the incident were called to give evidence.

The final live witness took to the stand to conclude the morning sitting, when the court heard he saw the blade pulled from the younger defendant’s trousers.

Five written witness statements were read aloud to conclude Tuesday’s sitting (July 18) – one of which detailed a nine second phone call the 15-year-old defendant had with a friend ahead of the incident.

The final eight written statements were heard the following day (Wednesday, July 19), including five from members of the police force.

Ahead of the prosecution closing its case, the jury were taken step-by-step through key moments which led to the Kingsthorpe College pupil’s death.

Having been told the agreed facts of the case, the jury heard the 17-year-old defendant has pleaded guilty to being in possession of a bladed article in Harborough Road on the day of the fatal stabbing.

The 15-year-old defendant stood to give evidence in court for the first time on Friday afternoon (July 21), when the court heard him say young people buy knives “for show” and to “look cool”.

The younger defendant charged with murder said he felt ‘upset’ seeing a picture of the 16-year-old Fred Shand for the first time because of “how it happened and how it went down”.

The trial continues.