Alleged murderers 'hunted man like prey'

Lewis Bell was fatally stabbed in the back

Two men and a teenager hunted a man down like prey and murdered him in a drug feud, a court has heard.

Lewis Bell, 26, was chased down and fatally stabbed in the back on Hills Drive in Stockton in September, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Liam Matthews, 26, and Sean McLeod, 23, both of no fixed abode, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named all deny murder.

Prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC said the trio acted like a pack of predatory animals.

He previously told jurors the case centred around a crack cocaine den on Norton Road in Stockton which was used by Mr Bell and the three accused.

Mr Bell was suspected of robbing other visitors, giving the illegal operation a bad reputation, the court heard.

Mr Bell and the defendants used the same crack house in Stockton, prosecutors say

After a short chase in which Mr Bell was "running for his life", the trio caught up with and attacked him shortly after midnight on 19 September, Mr Makepeace said.

Continuing his opening of the case to jurors, Mr Makepeace showed CCTV footage in which Mr Bell could be heard begging for his life, repeatedly "crying please" and asking for an ambulance as "it's gone in my heart".

"It is apparent that young man was aware of what was happening to him and of his fate," Mr Makepeace said.

Mr Bell knocked on doors for help before collapsing in the street, with concerned residents quickly calling 999.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics, he was declared dead at the scene at 00:37 BST, the court heard.

He was found to have suffered a 5in (12.5cm) stab wound to his back which penetrated his lung causing "massive blood loss", Mr Makepeace said, as well as two other knife injuries to his arms.

Two men and a teenager are on trial at Teesside Crown Court

The prosecutor said the defendants acted as a pack and were all equally responsible for Mr Bell's death.

"They killed him together," Mr Makepeace said, adding: "Like a pack of predatory animals, they chased Lewis Bell down and they killed him."

Mr Makepeace said they were "intent on teaching him a lesson about taxing the customers of the drugs house".

Taxing is a term used for robbing or raiding rival drug dealers and users, the court heard.

'Blame the others'

In the aftermath, the accused teenager told a friend "somebody got stabbed in the heart" and the victim was a "crackhead who had been taking somebody's money", Mr Makepeace said, adding: "He repeatedly told [the person] he and his friends had done it."

Mr McLeod was "spirited away" to London and Mr Matthews told Mr Bell's sister the victim had been chased and "chopped" for grabbing £20 back from the dealers after being given two rocks of crack cocaine, the prosecutor added.

In their police interviews, the youth made no comment, Mr Matthews said he was a friend of Mr Bell's and his two co-accused had carried out the attack, while Mr McLeod said he had "nothing whatsoever to do with the killing", the court heard.

Mr Makepeace said each sought to "exonerate themselves and lay blame on the others".

A fourth man, Macauley Wright, 26, of Humewood Grove in Stockton, has admitted assisting an offender.

The trial continues.