Jack Lowe murder accused pair 'jumped up and down excited'

Two teenagers are on trial accused of the murder of Jack Norton, who was also known as Jack Lowe

A woman has recalled the moment her friend was stabbed to death before those accused of his murder "jumped up and down excited".

Brandon Price, 19, and a 16-year-old youth are charged with killing Jack Norton, who was known as Jack Lowe.

The Wolverhampton Crown Court jury earlier heard the pair, from Walsall, had also been captured "laughing".

Jack died in an area of grassland, locally known as Cookie Park, in Darlaston, on 7 December 2022.

The defendants both deny murder and possession of a bladed article.

The prosecution argue that while Mr Price, aged 18 at the time, was the one who stabbed Jack, it was his co-defendant, who was then 15 and cannot be named for legal reasons, who was responsible for "egging him on".

'Threatening manner'

The court has already heard Jack had spent the day shopping in Walsall and Birmingham with two female friends, before they encountered the defendants, who had asked if they could "stick around and hang out".

One of Jack's female friends, who was aged 18, told the court she had drunk alcohol and smoked cannabis earlier in the day.

The 16-year-old defendant had been "behaving in a threatening manner" towards Jack and "making it clear that he had a problem", she told the jury.

But the witness told jurors it was Mr Price who inflicted the fatal injury by "swinging his arm into Jack's chest multiple times".

She claimed she saw a blade sticking out from the top of Mr Price's hand before he and his co-defendant began "jumping up and down excited".

'Perfectly friendly'

The witness faced lengthy questioning by two defence barristers over how many times she had been to Birmingham with Jack that day, how much alcohol they had been drinking and if they had smoked cannabis.

Mr Price's defence team said everything seemed "perfectly friendly", but at one point in the evening the younger defendant became "hostile" and it was Mr Price who had tried to calm him down.

But the defendant's counsel rejected this and questioned whether the witness was confused because of the accent of the person who had made the threats.

"I'm suggesting anyone making threats was Brandon, not [the youth]," she said.

The trial continues.