Gosport murder trial: Video shows dealer being chased and stabbed as attacker says "shank him up"
A dramatic video of a Gosport drug dealer being chased before he was stabbed to death in a frenzied cocaine robbery was shown in a murder trial, with an alleged attacker saying: “Shank him up.”
Ring doorbell footage played to Portsmouth Crown Court showed Levi Kent, 22, being attacked on the ground in Keyes Road after running for his life having already been stabbed seconds earlier by Tommy West, 18, of Fisgard Road, Gosport. He has admitted murder, robbery and possession of a blade. His half-brother Aiden West, 24, of Tudor Close, Gosport, denies murder and possession of a blade.
Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan KC told jurors Tommy West and Aiden West were hunting down Levi while armed with knives just before 2.30am on November 24 last year as they tried to rob drugs off him. He had been lured to the scene to sell the pair cocaine after refusing to defer payment on the deal before he was initially knifed in his Vauxhall Corsa car behind shops in Nobes Avenue.
Levi then desperately hit the accelerator before the car “shot across the road and crashed into a wall and garages on the opposite side of Bridgemary Medical Centre”, Mr Haggen said, before adding: “Somehow Levi Kent then got out of the vehicle and was chased by Tommy West and Aiden West.”
Levi ran into the adjoining Keyes Road being chased with ring doorbell footage played to the court showing part of the attack - with the voices of the attackers heard in the video. Mr Haggen said: “The recording shows Levi Kent running and being chased by two others, obviously Tommy West and Aiden West.
“Levi Kent appears to collapse and the two other men can be seen close to where he fell. There are movements consistent with stabbing and kicking.”
Tommy West, the first to get to Levi, is apparently heard saying “drop your s***” to his victim, before adding: “Where is it?”
The second male - alleged to be Aiden West - then arrives seconds later with Mr Haggen saying he tells his brother: “Shank him up bruv.” Tommy West then replies: “He already has been bruv”, before adding: “Move…now.”
Mr Haggen, referring to the “shank him up” comment, said: “We say this means to stab him.”
He continued: “We say they (the West brothers) were in this together and were jointly responsible for what happened, for (Levi’s) death, his murder. If we are right (about the shank him up comment) you may think this is key to the case against Aiden West.”
Mr Haggen said the men fled the scene with the large red knife used to kill Levi dumped on a roof of a building which was later found by police.
The court was told Levi suffered six “sharp force injuries” to the left side of his chest with the fatal wound penetrating 18cm deep after cutting through his left lung and into the left side of his heart. Pathologist Deborah Cook added the death from the stab wound was “not instantaneous” with Levi becoming “weak from blood loss before collapsing and dying”.
The case also includes other defendants. Peter West, 42, of Fisgard Road, and Michael Figgins, 64, of St Ann's Crescent, are also on trial, with each charged with two counts of assisting an offender.
Other people in the matter include the brothers’ mother Joanne West, 45, of no fixed address, who has admitted two counts of assisting an offender. Liam Savage, 37, of Trinity Green in Gosport, has also admitted two counts of assisting an offender.
Sarah Flynn, 36, of James Close in Gosport, was charged with two counts of assisting an offender.
(Proceeding)