Jury to be sent out in Macaulay Branighan murder trial

Samuel Tweddle and Stephen Ward are accused of being involved in the brutal slaying of the 27-year-old when he was chased and slashed with a machete.

The alleged victim was “cornered and attacked” minutes after a chance meeting outside a Stockton shop, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Macaulay Branighan, 27, from Stockton died in hospital three days after the alleged stabbing (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Jurors heard how Mr Branighan was kicked, punched and slashed with a machete when he was cornered on Westerton Green, Stockton, on October 12.

Both men deny inflicting the fatal injuries and CCTV footage from the evening showed an unknown third alleged accomplice involved in the chase.

Mark McKone KC, delivering his closing speech in defence of 25-year-old Ward, said his client accepts that he was in the area at the time and had been captured on CCTV, but was not responsible for delivering the fatal blows.

Judge Francis Laird KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, is expected to complete summing up the evidence in the morning before asking the jury to retire to consider its verdict.

Police working at the scene of the alleged murder at Westerton Green, Stockton (Image: Freelancer)

Earlier in the trial, forensic pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton told jurors Macaulay suffered five significant knife injuries, including two that went down to the bone, and suffered extensive blood loss as a result.

He died three days later after he suffered multiple organ failure and a brain injury resulting in cardiac arrest.

Ward, of Tithe Barn Road, Stockton, and 25-year-old Tweddle, of Kimblesworth Walk, Stockton, both deny murder.

The trial continues.