Ryan Kirkpatrick: Murder witness recognised killer's eyes, court told

Ryan Kirkpatrick was killed in a stabbing in Carlisle in September 2021

A woman whose friend was fatally stabbed recognised the balaclava-wearing killer's eyes, jurors heard.

Ryan Kirkpatrick, 24, was killed in Carlisle on 18 September 2021 following an altercation.

Kane Hull, 29, and Liam Craig Porter, 33, deny murder and manslaughter.

Witness Chloe Bowman told Carlisle Crown Court despite her being "very drunk" and the killer wearing a balaclava, she recognised Mr Hull by his eyes and build.

The court has previously heard Mr Kirkpatrick was stabbed multiple times at about 20:45 BST, about 15 minutes after there had been an altercation between the victim and two defendants.

'In shock'

The two accused both admit the earlier altercation but said they were not there when the stabbing took place.

Ms Bowman said she had been at the Mamoa bar in Carlyle's Court between 20:30 and 21:00 BST and heard Mr Kirkpatrick describe the earlier incident.

She said she then sat on a bench outside Mamoa about 9ft (3m) away from Mr Kirkpatrick when "I just seen Kane enter the court and stab Ryan".

When asked by prosecutor Tim Evans who the Kane was she was referring to, Ms Bowman said: "Kane Hull."

Asked how long she had known Mr Hull, Ms Bowman said: "I just really knew of him. I knew of him for about two years."

Asked how many times she saw Mr Kirkpatrick being stabbed, Ms Bowman told jurors: "I seen the once.

"I just saw the one time," she added.

"Ryan was obviously bleeding from the lower bit of his body. Obviously we knew something bad had happened. I was in shock."

She added: "Obviously when the stabbing had finished we did try to help him."

'Very drunk'

Asked what the attacker was wearing, Ms Bowman said a dark tracksuit and balaclava.

"How were you able to see it was 'Kane Hull'?" Mr Evans asked.

Ms Bowman said: "Because Kane had intentions to come back and do it."

Mr Evans asked: "Tell me what it was about this person in dark clothing with a balaclava that allowed you to recognise it was Kane Hull?"

Ms Bowman said "from his build", adding: "I could recognise him anyways from, like, his eyes. I could tell it was him because I knew of him."

Under questioning from Mr Hull's barrister Toby Hedworth KC, Ms Bowman accepted she was "very drunk" but said: "I still remember what happened."

She admitted saying in a sworn deposition made before the trial that she "knew" it was Hull, and stating: "I could see his eyes and heard his voice."

She told jurors she didn't know Hull's actual voice — only that she heard the attacker speak.

"His intention was to come back anyways; when he has turned up I've known it's him. It's not going to be someone else, is it," Ms Bowman said.

Mr Hedworth told her: "That's the reality: you can't identify this person with only their eyes showing. You're coming to the conclusion that whoever had had the trouble with Ryan the first time was the same person coming back."

Ms Bowman replied: "Yeah."

'Quick attack'

Two more friends of Mr Kirkpatrick, brothers Owen and Shae Kenyon, said they had attended a Christening with him earlier that day.

Owen Kenyon said he had his arm around Mr Kirkpatrick when a man with a balaclava on and dark clothing "just ran up and struck Ryan, maybe two times".

Owen Kenyon said: "They had a knife. He was trying to conceal it, shadow it, as such, by keeping it close to his body to try and hide it."

The first strike was to Mr Kirkpatrick's "belly area" and the second "around the chest area", Mr Kenyon said.

He could not see the face of the attacker who, he said, was "small, stocky", and he said the knifeman "had exactly the same build as Kane".

Shae Kenyon said he was standing at the far end of the courtyard when two people wearing masks entered.

He said: "The shorter lad just ran at Ryan with a knife. Ran towards Ryan and stabbed him. More than once. Two or three times, quite quick."

He said he got a waistcoat and put pressure on the wound until emergency services arrived.

A passing man and woman said they saw two men run from the courtyard and get into a dark coloured car on Fisher Street which drove off at speed.

The woman wrote "Nd58wdt 2048" on a scrap of paper and told the court she felt "confident that the number plate is close to what was written down".

Jurors have heard that the registration number of a blue Volvo S40 used by Mr Hull and Mr Porter earlier on the day was ND58 WZT.

The trial continues.