Stabbing victim Simon Bennett rang the partner of murder accused Craig Conway saying her boyfriend would be “coming back in a box”, a court heard.
Tanya Yates was giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court in the trial of boyfriend Craig Conway, who admits manslaughter but denies murdering Simon Bennett in a Thorntree street fight.
Ms Yates said that she had been with Conway on May 8, the day of the stabbing, and he had seemed in a “normal mood”.
She was aware, she told the court, that there had been an argument over £30 that Conway owed Mr Bennett from the funeral of a mutual friend.
Ms Yates said Conway had received a phone call on her mobile from Mr Bennett - but after had told him to “just ignore it”.
Minutes later, Conway left the house telling her he was going to see his brother Brian - but was actually going to meet Simon Bennett. Ms Yates said he had nothing with him when he left.
Ms Yates told the court that she then received a phone call from Mr Bennett, asking if Conway, also known as Bruno, was in the house.
She said he then told her: “If he’s coming to see me, he’s coming back in a box.”
Later, she received another phone call from Simon Bennett’s friend Daniel Blenkinsop who said: “Where is Bruno? He’s stabbed Simo.”
Prosecution barrister Andrew Robertson QC put it to Ms Yates that she was already expecting trouble before Mr Bennett rang her - which she denied.
Also giving evidence was Jordan Jackson, who told the court that he was friends with both Mr Bennett and Conway.
He was driving around Thorntree on his motorbike on the day of the incident - and said he let Conway, of Epworth Green, Pallister Park, have a ride on the bike at around lunchtime.
That night, while riding on The Greenway, he saw Mr Bennett, “bouncing around, he looked tense, he seemed fuming” minutes before the fight in which Mr Bennett was stabbed.
Mr Bennett was slightly ahead of Daniel Blenkinsop and Paul Cronin, who told Jackson there were going to be a fight.
He then saw Conway and told him: “Don’t fight just leave it. It’s not worth it.”
Mr Jackson said he could not influence Craig Conway: “They’re grown men and they make their own decisions. I don’t think either wanted to fight but they both wound each other up.”
He told the court that as the two men approached each other, Conway held up his hands and said he didn’t want to fight.
But Mr Bennett hit Conway once or twice, before he retaliated and the pair started “grappling”.
Mr Jackson said he then leaned his motorbike against a van and started to remove his helmet in order to try and split them up - but then saw Mr Bennett staggering towards him covered in blood.
Conway shouted “I’ve stabbed him” and made off on Mr Jackson’s bike, he told the court.
He said he saw neither man with a knife, and that nobody on scene had moved one as “they were too worried about Simo”.
Proceeding.
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