Harry Baker murder trial: 'Mocking calls made from victim's phone'

Harry Baker's body was found by workers arriving for their morning shifts at Barry Intermodal Terminal

"Mocking" calls were made from the phone of a murder victim after he was stabbed to death, a court has heard.

The body of Harry Baker, 17, from Cardiff, was found at Barry Docks in Vale of Glamorgan on 28 August.

Newport Crown Court heard one of the seven defendants in the case, 21-year-old Leon Symons, told a friend of Harry: "Your boy's dead now - you ain't finding him."

Mr Symons, five other men and a 16-year-old boy all deny murder.

• Teen killed in 'bloody and merciless' knife attack

The prosecution said Leon Symons (centre) taunted Harry Baker's friends on the phone after the death

The other defendants are Raymond Thompson, 47, Lewis Evans, 61, Ryan Palmer, 33, Peter McCarthy, 36, all from Barry, and Leon Clifford, 22, of no fixed address. The 16-year-old boy cannot be named.

Clifford, who has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, admitted to police that he had stabbed Harry.

Paul Lewis QC, prosecuting, told the court Harry's phone had been taken from his body when a call was made to it by Natasha Allt at 00:34 BST.

Mr Lewis said Mr Symons answered the phone, which was in Barry at the time, and made the taunt about Harry's death.

Harry tried to hide in the Barry Intermodal Terminal, the trial has heard

The court also heard that Poppy Davies, who Harry had been staying with in Barry in the days before the murder, received a call from his phone at about 01:00.  

The phone was by that time using a mast in Cardiff.

Mr Lewis told the jury: "It was a mocking call. The caller was trying to disguise his voice. He said to Poppy Davies, 'Ha, guess whose phone I'm ringing you off? We've got your boy's phone. You won't be hearing from him again.' The phone then went dead."

He added the caller must also have known that Harry was dead, and not merely injured, in order to tell Ms Davies she would not be hearing from the teenager again.

(L-R) Defendants Leon Clifford, Ryan Palmer, Leon Symons, Peter McCarthy, Lewis Evans and Raymond Thompson all deny murder

On Tuesday, the court heard Harry had been involved in a drug feud with the defendants, and was killed in a "swift, bloody and merciless knife attack" after a chase through Barry.

Mr Palmer, Mr Symons, Mr McCarthy, Mr Thompson, and the boy also deny violent disorder.

Mr Evans denies a charge of assisting an offender.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.