Lee McKnight murder trial hears evidence from neighbour who heard cries of pain
A woman living opposite a Carlisle house in which Lee McKnight was allegedly “beaten to the point of death” before being dumped in a river has recalled seeing shadows hitting out forcefully, and hearing cries of pain from the address.
Six people are on trial at the city’s crown court. They all stand accused of murdering 26-year-old Lee McKnight, whose body was found in the River Caldew by a farmer who dialled 999 at 5-23am on 24th July last year.
As the trial moved into week two today (MON), a jury heard dramatic evidence from a woman who at that time was a Charles Street neighbour of mother-and-daughter Coral and Carol Edgar two of the defendants.
A PHONE used by one of the six people accused of murdering Carlisle man Lee McKnight sent a series of late-night messages to his girlfriend, at one point telling her: “Not my fault.” That message – sent in the early hours of July 24 last year – was from 18-year-old Jamie Lee Roberts, one of the three men accused of beating up Mr McKnight after he was “lured” to a property in Carlisle on the day when he died, jurors heard. The exchange was presented to the court as prosecuting barrister Tim Evans took jurors through some of the phone records and CCTV images which will be evidence in the trial.
Tragedy: Lee McKnight and scenes from the investigation of his murder LEE McKnight called a taxi and travelled to the Charles Street area of Carlisle shortly before his violent death but his phone was never found. At the city’s crown court, a murder trial jury was guided through phone evidence allegedly linked to the case, with prosecutor Tim Evans outlining calls, texts and social media data from the phone records of 26-year-old Mr McKnight. The court also heard about phone records for the six people who are accused of Mr McKnight s murder. The messages included Snapchat contact between Mr McKnight and a young woman he was on friendly terms with, 26-year-old Coral Edgar. She is among the people who were later charged with his murder.
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image captionLee McKnight walked straight into a trap on the night he died, jurors have heard
A house where a man was beaten to the point of death would have been covered in blood, a jury has been told.
Six people are accused of the murder of Lee McKnight, 26, whose body was discovered in the River Caldew in Carlisle in July.
Carlisle Crown Court heard no-one in the house at the time he was attacked could fail to know it was happening.
Four men, including a father and son, along with a mother and daughter, and all from Carlisle, deny murder.
Lee McKnight
Jurors in the Lee McKnight murder trial have seen video footage showing the house in which he was beaten and the route taken by the vehicle used to transport him to the river where his body was found.
Carlisle Crown Court has heard 26-year-old Mr McKnight suffered appalling multiple injuries and was possibly even a victim of torture having walked straight into a trap at an address in the city’s Charles Street on the early morning of 24th July last year.
It is alleged he was lured there at a time when he was a “marked man” owing a large debt to a fellow Carlisle drug dealer.