PC Keith Blakelock: Man 'wrote rap about killing policeman'

PC Keith Blakelock was stabbed 43 times, the Old Bailey was told

A poem about the killing of PC Keith Blakelock during riots in north London was written by the man accused of his murder, a court has heard.

The prosecution told the Old Bailey the rap poem was found in defendant Nicholas Jacobs' jail cell.

The jury was also told a gang had plans to kill a policeman during the Broadwater Farm riots and weapons and petrol bombs had been stored.

The 45-year-old denies murdering the officer in Tottenham in October, 1985.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam said the poem, found when Mr Jacobs was serving a prison sentence for affray at a youth custody centre in 1988, included phrases such "we have intention to kill an police officer" and "we chop him all over".

Nicholas Jacobs was 16 at the time of the murder

PC Blakelock's sons (left-right) Lee, Kevin and Mark, attended the trial with their mother Elizabeth Johnson

It started: "As long as I live I remember it was 1985 the 6th October..."

It continued: "We chop him on him finger, we chop him on him leg... we done kill him off, lord er feel much better."

The prosecution said one witness to the murder believes a whistle was blown by rioters as a signal to attack.

The same witness claims the crowd around the officer was two to three deep and some were armed with knives while others had sticks.

Nicholas Jacobs was arrested following a renewed police investigation

About 500 police battled with rampaging youths who threw bricks and bottles from walkways in the estate

The jury was told about PC Blakelock's injuries.

Mr Whittam said a knife was lodged in the policeman's neck when his body was recovered and he had suffered 43 stab wounds caused by different weapons including single and double-bladed knives.

The most devastating wound was to the side of his face, caused by a machete or an axe, the court was told.

'Good couple of stabs'

Mr Jacobs was first arrested on 11 October, 1985, and claimed he had been at home when PC Blakelock was attacked. However, he was convicted of affray a year later for his part in the riots.

During that trial, a witness who was himself convicted for kicking the PC, said he saw the defendant at the scene and talked to him days later, where Mr Jacobs gave him the impression that it was obvious he had been involved in the murder.

When police renewed their investigation in 1993, the same witness, who was a former member of the Park Lane Boys gang, said he had seen Mr Jacobs carrying a "curved machete or scythe".

The defendant had plunged the weapon "crazily" into PC Blakelock's shoulders as the mob shouted "Kill the beasty", the witness told officers.

Describing the murder, he said: "They all had weapons and were involved in killing him.

"I know because I saw it with my own eyes. I have had to live with this for the past eight years, it's always on my mind."

He also told police he had "nearly got killed last time for helping you lot" during the original investigation.

Demonstrators have protested outside the court

A second witness, known in the trial as Rhodes Levin, told officers he had seen the defendant stabbing the officer twice with a "fairly small knife".

Mr Levin, a convicted drug dealer, also told officers that when the two were in Pentonville prison together in 1992, Mr Jacobs told him: "I got a good couple of stabs in on the officer."

The prosecutor also told the jury when he was held by police in May 2000, Mr Jacobs allegedly told the arresting officer: "I was one of them who killed Keith Blakelock."

It was only after Mr Levin was given the promise of immunity that he admitted having kicked PC Blakelock himself five or six times.

During the third investigation, a long-term heroin user who had been living on the Broadwater Farm estate at the time of the riots, said: "I was about 15ft to the left of his body at the time of the murder.

"I saw Nicky Jacobs making repeated stabbing motions to the top half of PC Blakelock's body."

The trial continues