Glen Kitchens’ death trial: Defence says teen witness lied about The Canch

The boy’s friend, 16, is in the dock at Nottingham Crown Court accused of manslaughter.

Today, Thursday 24th October 2013, defence barrister Martin Hurst picked holes in the teenager’s account of what happened on Saturday 6th April, in the hours before Glen was killed.

The teenager says the defendant was the one who threw the fatal punch which floored Mr Kitchens in Bridge Street just before 7.30pm.

But Mr Hurst suggested he was not a reliable witness.

He used CCTV footage taken from around the town to show the movements of a group of teenagers including the witness and, at some points, the defendant.

It suggests that they did not go to The Canch park as the boy and a previous witness have claimed.

Instead, they hung around town causing trouble, throwing street signs and traffic cones, play fighting, shouting and knocking into passers-by.

“I suggest that was the whole point of the group, that you got a kick out of winding up grown ups, because that’s what entertains you. You do it for sport,” Mr Hurst told the teenage boy.

At one point some of the group, including three girls, are captured on camera walking away from town and into a nearby neighbourhood.

Said Mr Hurst: “You said the defendant went off with the girls leaving the boys at the Canch.”

“The court has no reason to disbelieve you, other than the fact we have this CCTV that proves otherwise.”

The teen seemed confused when trying to remember some of the places he and his friends had been that afternoon.

But he maintains they ‘definitely’ went to The Canch ‘at some point’.

Mr Hurst told him: “You had come to tell a pre-prepared lie about The Canch because you wanted to keep the girls out of it.”

He suggested the teen was in a neighbourhood gang which the defendant was not really part of, being from a different part of town.

The teenage witness denied being in a gang, saying they were ‘just friends’.

He told the court he ‘couldn’t remember’ leaving the town centre, despite seeing the CCTV footage showing he did.

Mr Hurst said: “You didn’t want to remember because you didn’t want to grass up your mates. But you don’t mind grassing up the defendant because he’s not in your group.”

The trial continues.