'You need to change your story': Defendant in Northampton teenager's murder trial phoned witnesses from prison

A defendant in a Liam Hunt's murder trial called witnesses from prison and tried to get them to change their stories.
Liam Hunt was killed in a knife fight in February last year.Liam Hunt was killed in a knife fight in February last year.
Liam Hunt was killed in a knife fight in February last year.

Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday (March 22) how Lee Warren, 18, from Queen's Park, rang witnesses from jail and told them to go to the police to make new statements about his alleged role in the murder of Liam Hunt.

But Warren didn't realise his calls were being recorded, and they have now been used against him and his fellow defendants in court.

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The jury heard Warren tell a witness: "You need to change your statements... They're blaming it on me you know. What did you say in your statement?

The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.
The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.

"I told them I was standing with [a witness] when it happened... if she changes her story she could get me out."

During the four separate phone calls, Warren also mentioned two of his co-defendants - Kane Allaban-Hamilton, 18, from Camp Hill, and Derice Wright, 18, from Abington.

"That Derice kid is a snitch," said Warren. "He told them [the police] where Kane's shank is.

"Kane's got someone to move it now, it's alright."

The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.
The court heard how one of the defendants tried to get witnesses to change their stories.
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Allaban-Hamilton is accused of inflicting the seven-centimetre stab wound to Liam's neck that killed him.

CCTV played to the court has shown how Derice Wright followed Allaban-Hamilton after the fatal knife fight and buried a knife in a planter as they ran away.

Police later recovered the knife.

Warren pleaded guilty to perverting the cause of justice before the trial began.

The court also heard how prison officers found a note from Allaban-Hamilton in the cell of one of his 17-year-old co-defendants during a routine search.

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The note read: "You need to say how, when Kane and Liam were grappling, Kane was trying to push the knife away from himself... that Derice stabbed [Liam] in the leg a few times."

Allaban-Hamilton's barrister has claimed Liam and his friends were armed with knives in the fight.

The trial continues.