Murder trial shown moment man was stabbed to death

The court heard the 18-year-died after being stabbed through the heart

A murder trial jury has been shown the moment a man was stabbed through the heart before running away and collapsing in the street.

Charles Hartle, now 18 but 17 at the time, is accused of killing Noah Smedley, who had met him and his three friends off Heanor Road, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, to sell them cannabis on 28 December.

Mr Hartle, of Station Road, Stanley, denies murder but pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public place before the trial.

Talking the jury through CCTV footage, prosecutor Adrian Langdale KC said Mr Hartle could clearly be seen lunging at the 18-year-old's chest with a knife.

The trial, at Derby Crown Court, was also shown hundreds of Snapchat messages between Mr Hartle, three of his friends, his girlfriend and Mr Smedley.

On the day of the alleged murder, Mr Hartle arranged to sleep at a friend's house where he would play Call of Duty, drink beer and smoke cannabis with two others.

The court was shown messages sent to a girl shortly after he arrived at the property in Monyash Close asking if he could bring his three friends to a house party about 10 minutes away.

One of the group arranged to buy cannabis from Mr Smedley and the four teenagers were captured on CCTV heading down Heanor Road.

The jury was then shown a message from Mr Hartle to his girlfriend shortly before they met Mr Smedley, which read: "We're going to slap him up."

CCTV footage showed Mr Smedley arriving on an e-scooter at about 20:15 GMT when the prosecution said the deal was made.

Mr Smedley was fatally attacked on 28 December

Mr Langdale KC told the jury: "Charlie Hartle hangs back... he takes a couple of steps forward and a couple of steps back and then appears to edge forward towards the group and Noah Smedley... a small light appears in front of Noah.

"The pair are now facing each other... Charlie Hartle lunges at Noah Smedley's chest… he then steps back and the knife can be seen in his hand.

"[Mr Smedley] shouts out 'yo, yo, yo, yo, you stabbed me brother'.

"Noah jogs down the street and collapses on Heanor Road... this is the last time he was pictured on CCTV."

Charles Hartle was then shown running from the scene while his friends appeared to linger for a few seconds before also leaving.

The court was told they called 999 about 30 minutes after the incident.

'Split second' stabbing

In a police interview shown to the court with one of Mr Hartle's friends who witnessed the stabbing, he said there was no indication anything was amiss.

"Everything was fine when we met... the transaction was made to Noah," he said.

"Charlie at the time was saying nothing, he was all quiet there and wasn't arguing or doing anything.

"And then in an instance he whipped out the knife and stabbed Noah in a split second – there was no threatening, nothing like that.

"We then hung around for about 10 seconds – we were scared at the time we didn't know what to do – we just went on Heanor Road and we were going back to mine.

"We saw Charlie and said 'why did you stab him?' He didn't want to have any conversation and we didn't want any part of him."

The court was told Mr Hartle was seen on CCTV speaking to his girlfriend before he got a taxi into Derby city centre just after 21:05.

The trial, which is due to last two weeks, continues.