Carl Benson denies assisting an offender
A father has gone on trial accused of trying to ‘impede’ an investigation into his killer son after a teenager was stabbed to death.
Alfie Benson, then 16, was found guilty of manslaughter after he drove three associates to the scene of a murder.
Tafari Smith, Lewis Ludford and Yousef Sesay were convicted of murder after 17-year-old Kyle Hackland was stabbed to death in Withington in November 2022.
Benson then drove the trio away, as they left Kyle to die in the street. Now Benson’s father, Carl Benson, 44, has gone on trial accused of assisting an offender.
He is accused of helping to remove the stolen VW Golf which his son had been driving, as part of an alleged bid to ‘impede’ the investigation into his child.
He denies the charge and is standing trial at Manchester Crown Court.
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Prosecuting, Rachael Woods said that Alfie Benson had been driving a stolen VW Golf on the day of the killing, and had picked up Tafari Smith, then 16, and Lewis Ludford and Yousef Sesay, then both 17.
Ms Woods claimed that the four were looking for a man named James Todd. Later they became aware of his whereabouts, and Benson drove the Golf there ‘so that the other three young men could jump out and stab James Todd’.
“But what unexpectedly happened was James Todd pulled out a knife, but then ran off down an alleyway,” Ms Woods said.
She said that the trio then turned their attention onto Mr Hackland. “Kyle Hackland was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ms Woods said.
“He was repeatedly stabbed with at least two knives in broad daylight.” She said that Tafari Smith and Yousef Sesay both had knives.
Smith was heard to shout ‘chef him’, jurors heard. They left the scene on Southlea Road in the stolen Golf driven by Benson, at about 11.30am on November 22, 2022.
He dropped Ludford off at the Manchester Royal Infirmary to have a cut to his hand tended to.
“The panic and the cleaning up then began,” Ms Woods said. She said that about ten minutes later, Benson tried calling his father. She said that a series of calls were then made to a series of relatives.
“They were trying to find out what was going on at Southlea Road, and how bad it was,” Ms Woods said. She said that Benson drove Smith and Sesay to his flat on Wellington Road North in Stockport, arriving at 11.53am.
The trio later moved to a ‘safehouse’ in Wythenshawe. Jurors heard that Carl Benson picked up his son from there and returned to the flat in Stockport. The Golf used in the killing, parked near to the flat, was then driven away from the area.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Benson made arrangements to ‘dispose of the stolen car’ and to ‘distance his son from the others involved in the murder’.
Ms Woods said: “It is blatantly obvious, you may think, that he was making plans for that stolen car, that would directly implicate him in that murder, to be driven somewhere and dumped somewhere away from harm’s way.”
It is alleged that with the help of another person, who police have not been able to identify, that the stolen car was moved away. It was later discovered in Salford.
It was on different plates, but police were able to identify it using its chassis number. Ms Woods said that Benson had by that time arrived at his father’s address in Burnage.
“While Alfie Benson was at his father’s address, it was clear that arrangements were being made to hide him away from the police,” the prosecutor said.
Jurors heard that phone data later showed that Alfie Benson was in Rhyl, North Wales. “He remained out of the area, say the prosecution, until a plan had been made to front out his involvement in the murder of Kyle Hackland.”
Later that evening Carl Benson collected his son from Wales and returned to Manchester, jurors heard. The defendants then handed themselves in.
Jurors heard that following a trial, Tafari Smith, Lewis Ludford and Yousef Sesay were all convicted of murder, and Alfie Benson was convicted of manslaughter.
Carl Benson, of Arbor Drive, Burnage, is charged with assisting an offender, which he denies. He is accused of ‘arranging the removal’ of the Golf to ‘impede the investigation of his son for what was a very serious offence’.
Proceeding.
