Harry Baker murder trial: Murder accused says he never met victim

Harry Baker sustained stab wounds to the stomach and skull, jurors have heard

A man accused of being the getaway driver after a 17-year-old was stabbed to death says he picked up a group but did not know there had been an attack.

Harry Baker from Cardiff was found dead in a Barry Docks compound in the Vale of Glamorgan in August 2019.

Lewis Evans is one of seven defendants who deny murder at Newport Crown Court.

The 62-year-old said he had never met Harry Baker but did collect people from the docks on the day before his body was found.

The jury heard Mr Evans said in a prepared statement that he had driven the group to Ely, Cardiff, adding: "I did not know anyone was going to be assaulted or murdered."

He said he had been using crack cocaine for about five years and would drive people around in exchange for drugs.

He said after picking a group up in his "vivid blue" Nissan Juke, he dropped them near a "chicken shack": "I dropped them off and said goodnight," he said.

Harry Baker's body was found at a compound in Barry Docks in August 2019

When asked by a police officer whether Harry Baker's name was mentioned at all he said: "No, no".

Asked whether he knew Harry Baker, he said: "Never met him, never heard of him."

Jurors heard when Mr Evans was arrested for murder he responded: "What? That I killed him?"

The trial heard the youngest defendant, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police: "I fully deny committing the murder of Harry Baker or assaulting him in any way."

In his police interview he said he was not "in possession" of a knife, but had a "small steel bar" which he said he did not use to assault Mr Baker.

The prosecution has told jurors that this defendant, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was leading the chase of Harry Baker through the streets of Barry, before he was stabbed to death.

The jury has heard Harry Baker's body was found in the Intermodal Yard in Barry Docks and that some of the defendants were seen on CCTV entering and leaving the yard.

Leon Clifford, 23; Raymond Thompson, 48; Lewis Evans, 62; Ryan Palmer, 34 and Peter McCarthy, 37, all from Barry; Leon Symons, 22, from Ely, in Cardiff, and a 17-year-old boy deny murder.

The trial continues.