Dylan Holliday murder accused used knife 'to keep aggressor at bay'

Dylan Holliday "was a defenceless boy of 16" when he was attacked, Coventry Crown Court hears

A teenager accused of murdering a 16-year-old used the knife "to keep an aggressor at bay", a court has heard.

Dylan Holliday suffered 13 knife wounds during the attack in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire on 5 August 2021.

Benjamin Aina QC, who represents the boy the court has heard stabbed Dylan, told jurors the defendant "believed he was under attack".

He and another teenager deny murdering Dylan and the attempted murder of another teen.

Coventry Crown Court previously heard that one of the defendants had used a knife on the two teenagers.

Mr Aina, representing that defendant, told jurors in his closing remarks that Dylan's friends had "deliberately lied to police" about what happened.

"The reason they have deliberately lied… is because they were the aggressors who started the violence," he said.

Dylan had been "chilling and smoking weed" with friends in an underpass before he was attacked, the court heard

The first defendant used the knife "to keep an aggressor at bay", the court heard.

Mr Aina said messages found on Dylan's phone showed he was "a runner; a drug dealer - the language is steeped in it".

One message sent from Dylan's phone talks about sending Albanians to collect debts.

Mr Aina said he did not accept an account that months prior to the stabbing his client had held a knife to Dylan's throat and stolen a bicycle.

For the second defendant Kate Bex QC rejected the suggestion that he and the first defendant were close friends.

"Social services and the police had a file on the first defendant, but my client didn't have a file on him" she said.

Ms Bex told the jury the second defendant was "the only boy in the whole episode who has never been in trouble before".

Of the stabbing she said: "He hadn't encouraged it, he hadn't aided or abetted it, it's not what he wanted."

"He has already spent the best part of a year in prison for the poor decisions he made on 5 August, he has already paid a heavy price," the jury was told.

The trial continues.