Oliver Connelly, 28, told a jury he had a machete for protection after sleeping with another man’s girlfriend, as he testified in the trial over the alleged murder of Jordan Hogg in Middlesbrough.
One of the men charged with murdering Jordan Hogg claimed he carried a machete because he had slept with another man’s girlfriend.
Oliver Connelly gave evidence on Friday, December 5, explaining to the jury why he was armed with a machete when he knocked on Mr Hogg’s front door.
The 28 year old stated: “[I had] slept with another man’s girlfriend and obviously he had a problem with me”.
When asked about CCTV footage showing him carrying the machete, Connelly explained that he walks with a limp after being run over at age 15.
The jury viewed footage showing several of the defendants entering Mr Hogg’s Hemlington flat shortly before the 28 year old was fatally slashed across the neck on February 28, dying metres from his front door, reports Teesside Live.
Connelly insisted he had no intention of using the machete, telling the court: “If anyone jumps out of car at me, I cannot run off.”
He referenced his ankle, which he claims he cannot bend due to the accident.
Connelly told the court that he did not kill Mr Hogg and that they had been acquainted since school.
“He was my friend,” Connelly said. “When I seen him, I’d stand and talk to him”.
He testified that he had entered Mr Hogg’s flat on Fonteyn Court that evening to ask him to contact the family of the man who had stolen Sidney Bashford’s electric bike.
The prosecution alleges that the six defendants went to Mr Hogg’s flat to locate the bike thief, who had escaped up a grass hill when they were pursuing him in a white van minutes earlier. Connelly, from Elmhurst Gardens in Middlesbrough, pleads not guilty to murder.
He faces trial alongside five co-defendants – Sidney Bashford, 29, of no fixed address; Michael Charville, 43, of no fixed address; Ryan Moore, 22, of no fixed address; Leon Palfreeman, 18, of no fixed address; and a 17 year old lad, who cannot be named for legal reasons – all of whom deny murder.
‘Concerned about jealous partners’
Connelly claimed that he and several others had planned to drive to the bicycle thief’s residence after calling on Mr Hogg – to recover Bashford’s stolen bike. “You say you knocked on Mr Hogg’s door,” prosecution barrister Peter Glenser questioned, referencing the CCTV footage.
“It’s not really knocking if you put the blade of a machete in the front door?”.
“Did he answer the door and say, ‘Ollie! Goodness. What are you doing with that great big machete, leaving a mark on my door?” the barrister pressed on. Connelly responded “no.
“This was designed to be terrifying,” Mr Glenser stated. “No,” Connelly reiterated.
Connelly informed the court that he had engaged in “a threesome” with co-accused Sidney Bashford and a woman. He explained that he carried a blade because he was “worried about jealous lovers”.
When questioned about his closeness to Bashford, Connelly confirmed they were close but revealed he’d had threesomes “with more than one friend”. The jury was also told that Connelly was hospitalised from prison after consuming multiple tablets.
“My head was all over,” he explained. “Someone where I live had been murdered”.
‘I’m still being charged with murder ‘cos I was there’
The court heard a recorded conversation between Connelly and a female escort officer in the GEOAmey van. Connelly told the woman: “I didn’t murder him, but I was there when he got murdered…..I didn’t stab him.
“The knife I had on camera proves I didn’t, but I’m still getting done for murder ‘cos I was there”.
The recording from the van was played to the court. Connelly informed the escort officer that the “one who done it hasn’t been caught”.
He referred to Jordan Hogg as his friend:.
“It’s messed up. Ruined my life, the bloke did. Now he’s probably in America or somewhere”.
Connelly went on to suggest that he could “pay £1,000 for a fake passport” and mentioned that one of his co-accused was arrested at an airport. “You don’t catch a flight,” he said.
“You get a ferry from Scotland to Ireland, and from Ireland, you can catch a ferry to Europe.”
When questioned about the conversation in court, Connelly denied any intention to flee the country. “I was off me head,” he told the jury.
“I was trying to chat her [the escort officer] up.
“My head’s a mess,” he added, “I’m sat in prison for something I haven’t done”.
