Teen who inflicted fatal blow to Mason Miller at Northampton park ‘was fighting for his life’, barrister tells jury

Ms Mary Prior, defending the teenager at Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday November 11, said he would have been seriously injured or killed if he had not defended himself, while his actions also saved the life of the 16-year-old.

She described the teenagers involved in the case as “disposable kids” at the bottom of a drug-dealing operation, arguing they had been groomed and exploited by those making money from the drugs trade.

Mason, 20, died after being stabbed during an alleged machete fight at Briar Hill Skate Park, Northampton, on February 18, 2026.

The trial concerns a confrontation involving Mason and the 18-year-old versus the 16-year-old and the 17-year-old. The prosecution alleges the four were involved in a two-against-two machete fight, with both sides sharing a common purpose and prepared to inflict really serious harm.

The 17-year-old admits delivering the fatal wound but denies murder, claiming he acted in self-defence. The 16-year-old also denies murder and says he did not stab anyone, while the 18-year-old denies involvement in Mason's killing and says he was himself a victim of the violence.

All three defendants deny murder and manslaughter.

‘Both groups were fighting for their lives’

Ms Prior told the jury: “If the 17-year-old had run away after he was attacked by the 18-year-old, the 16-year-old wouldn't be here to be facing a trial. He just wouldn't be in this room. He'd be in a coffin.

“If the 17-year-old hadn't defended himself against the 18-year-old, who was running down the mound screaming a war cry, he would be seriously injured or killed. That's the reality of the situation.

“The prosecution attack my client because he didn't run away. He's turning his back, is he, on two people who have got machetes out?

“Whichever way he turns, he's a target for any or all of them.

“If he didn't have a machete, he would be dead. Simple as that.

“Once this group attacked him, he had literally seconds to make a decision.

“It's the other two – Mason and the 18-year-old – who run with their machetes out towards these two. When they get there, there's a short second pause, and in that time decisions have to be made.

“And the eyewitness reminds you, however inconvenient it is, that he heard the clash of knife on knife from both groups.

“Both groups were fighting, for their lives.

“You've got to judge whether, within a split second, my client made a decision that was reasonable.

“Please don't judge him with the benefit of hindsight. This was none other than an ambush.

“Apparently he is a murderer who, having never been violent in a life, has to make a split decision when two masked, armed people run at him with machetes.”

‘They are disposable kids’

Ms Prior said: “We are dealing with the kids at the bottom of the pile. They're the ones who get robbed, who get stabbed, they're the ones who get arrested, they're the ones who get judged each and every time they're out and about.

“They see people every day who snot down their noses at them because of what they do, how they dress, because of all the things that make them vulnerable.

“That makes them vulnerable to the grooming that happens to make these kids become drug dealers, to make them live their lives in a particular way.

“They don't really have choices. They're disposable.

“We never see the people at the top of the pile earning the money. We never see the people who take kids who have got no real morals, maybe no dad, maybe no mum, maybe grown up in care, and they've got nothing and no one.

“And all of a sudden someone's liking them and giving them things.

“Those kids are now called slaves. Modern slavery. It's an incredible thing to think, isn't it, after fighting so many years trying to stop it? Here we are in our own town with modern slaves running around.

“You don't see the people at the top in their expensive homes, cars, living their lives. You don't see them.

“The people you see in this court are the disposable kids.”

‘It is children grooming children’

Ms Prior said Mason had continued to associate with children under 18 despite being subject to a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order.

She told the jury: “He was not following those rules. He armed his children with machetes and they were dealing drugs.

“What would make anyone ruthless enough to use people under the age of 18 to do their dirty work? Well, probably by being groomed and forced into this work themselves when they were children.

“You know that's what happened to the 16-year-old. He was forced into this work at 11. I have no doubt the same applied to Mason Miller.

“It is children grooming children, and then you see the dangers that follow.

“You see them. They don't. They don't see them, or won't see them, or can't see them.

“They learn to live in a world where you're frightened all the time to be robbed, to be stabbed because you're dealing on someone else's patch, to be arrested.

“They live in a world where the only thing that matters to the people in charge of them are money and survival.

“For those earning money from this, they believe they're business people – earning more and more money is the goal.

“Here are two businesses. Mason Miller had a business where he was running a number of young people and, sadly, the 16-year-old had a business where he had a number of people running drugs for him.

“The 18-year-old was a significant member of Mason Miller's team. He had drivers. He had machetes. He was clearly dealing drugs. That's what the messages show.”

‘They're all getting into position’

Ms Prior returned to CCTV footage played to the jury, showing Mason and the 18-year-old initially with four other boys, six in total. The four boys cannot be named for legal reasons because of their ages.

The footage showed the group walking towards the canal path via Ringway in Briar Hill at 3.11pm, with those four boys subsequently hiding in bushes beside the canal overlooking the park.

Mason and the 18-year-old then ran towards Briar Hill Park at 3.25pm, Ms Prior said.

She told jurors: “Mason Miller is getting in touch with the group of four hiding in the bushes. The eyewitness sees them and thinks they look dodgy.

“They're all getting into position.

“Mason Miller and the 18-year-old are now on the mound.

“The evidence from the eyewitness said the two on the mound made noises and ran with their machetes out [towards the 16 and 17 year old].

“Choices are made in seconds. People live with them forever.

“Does it take six armed men to attack the 16-year-old? Does it take four? Does it take two?”

She urged jurors to be careful when interpreting the footage. She said: “You can't see fear, you can't see aggressive faces, you can't hear the clash of swords, so please be very careful looking at this footage with the benefit of hindsight from your position.

“They didn't see it from that angle at all. And they had the benefit of sound. There were the war cries coming down.

“The 16-year-old is lucky to be alive. The 17-year-old is lucky to be alive.

“They don't go looking for a fight with machetes out, riding up. They go to check if it's the police.

“Mason Miller is fighting and swinging his blade. The 18-year-old is fighting and swinging his blade. The eyewitness is the one who tells you all four were fighting.

“If you use a machete, you may be lucky, but you may also die. And the risks are there for each and every one of them.

“They are not to be judged for the fact they didn't run away. Bear in mind, if you're having to make an instantaneous decision in seconds, you might get it wrong.

“But it could just as easily have been my client in the coffin. Just as easily. In fact, probably more likely.”

‘What lovely friends’

Ms Prior questioned why the four boys who had hidden in the bushes left the scene rather than staying with their injured friends.

She told the jury: “The other four, they don't hang about [after the fatal fight]. They run off.

“Once they pick up a variety of weapons and phones, they run off. They don't stay with their group. They don't make sure nothing else happens to them.

“You'll see they run off carrying weapons. What lovely friends.

“They run off and leave a dying man and a man who has been seriously injured who are part of their crew. Why are they running off? If they had no intention of doing any crime, and they've just seen their mates being attacked?

“They didn't have to clear off, but clear off they all did. And that's why we don't have the 18-year-old's machete, it was taken.

“Nor would they take the 18-year-old's machete if he was a victim of this attack.

“You can see some items were dropped in the river, never to be recovered.”

‘He's in the wrong place at the wrong time’

Ms Prior questioned why all three defendants were in the dock together, arguing that the 17-year-old had no grudge against the other people involved.

She said: “I'm trying really hard to understand how these three are all in the dock together.

“The 18-year-old hates the 16-year-old. And he has every reason to hate him if he's right about the 16-year-old stabbing him [on April 6 2025], and he has every reason to want to hurt him.

“The 18-year-old now hates the 17-year-old because the 17-year-old stabbed him and the 17-year-old killed his friend Mason.

“The 16-year-old will hate the 18-year-old for coming to fight him and the 16-year-old now ending up in a dock being tried for murder on the basis of a joint agreement between the four of them to each kill or hurt the others.

“And the 17-year-old, like always, nobody gives the 17-year-old a thought. Because the sad reality of life is he didn't have a grudge against any of these people.

“He's in the wrong place at the wrong time and he's criticised for sitting there and saying nothing.”

She challenged the suggestion that the teenager's failure to give evidence meant he was guilty.

She said: “It's suggested the only sensible conclusion is he's guilty and giving evidence in a murder trial is easy and simple. So easy to say that, so easy to point the finger at the 17-year-old here.

“The 17-year-old has an account to give and he gave it in a written document to the court, admitting to all the things he did wrong.

“The evidence is this was an ambush and four of those six are still out and about. They're not here, are they?

“Imagine what this group would do to the 17-year-old, who killed Mason Miller and injured the 18-year-old. They won't think they did anything wrong, they will think he should have died.”

She ended telling jurors: “My client was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“His life, his future is in your hands, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not pulling emotional strings, believe me, I could.

“Was this an ambush that went wrong? Which very unfortunately led to the death of a young man who had the rest of his life ahead of him.

“There's no doubt things went wrong for all of them that day.”

The trial continues.