One of the two men accused of murdering 29-year-old roofer Jack Howes during a stabbing attack in Grimsby has claimed that he had no idea that the roofer had been fatally injured, or even that a serious injury might have been caused.
Kian Feve claimed: “I wasn’t sure if I had injured someone”. He insisted that he had been scared for his life at the time of the street confrontation with Mr Howes.
He claimed that he only “panicked” when he later pulled a knife out of his pocket and realised to his horror that there was blood on it. He was “in shock” when he later found out through Facebook that Mr Howes had died and his “head was all over the place” because of that, a court heard.
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Kian Feve, 22, of Southfield Road, Scunthorpe, and Robert Wattam, 23, of School Houses, Broughton, deny murdering Mr Howes on March 20. Darren Watson, 28, of Queensway, Scunthorpe, denies assisting an offender by picking up Kian Feve and Mr Wattam from Grimsby and driving them back to Scunthorpe, impeding the apprehension or prosecution of them, on March 20.
A fourth defendant, Darren Feve, 45, of Southfield Road, Scunthorpe, who is Kian Feve’s stepfather, denies perverting the course of justice on March 23. He is accused of telling the police that his stepson was at the family home at the time of the incident involving Mr Howes.
The prosecution at Hull Crown Court claims that Kian Feve and Mr Wattam were dealers in heroin and crack cocaine and that Mr Howes agreed late on March 19 to meet them in Grimsby to buy drugs. An argument broke out and Mr Howes ran off but he is said to have slipped before being attacked by Kian Feve and Mr Wattam in the early hours of March 20.
He was kicked as he lay on the ground and he was stabbed twice in the chest and abdomen, causing “catastrophic” injuries, the court has heard. Mr Howes managed to flee from the scene but he collapsed a short distance away. Mr Howes died in hospital at 2.30am on March 20.
Wrapped knife in tea towel
Kian Feve, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, red tie, a tie clip and trousers, told the court during his defence evidence that he did not think that any injury that Mr Howes might have suffered during a confrontation in the street would be serious. He claimed that, when he went to a woman’s house in Haycroft Street and pulled his phone out of his pocket, he realised that there was blood on his hands. He claimed that he pulled the knife out of his pocket and realised that there was blood on it.
“I panicked,” he said. “I washed my hands, rinsed the knife underneath the sink and put it in a tea towel. I wasn’t sure if I had injured someone.”
Defence barrister Nicholas De La Poer KC asked him: “Did you think that you had killed anybody?” Kian Feve replied: “No.”
Police later found the knife wrapped in the tea towel outside the house. “I left it there,” said Kian Feve. “I didn’t want to take it home with me.”
He said that Mr Wattam later telephoned Mr Watson to pick them up and take them to Scunthorpe, but he was not there when the call was made. “Daz picks us up,” said Kian Feve.
When asked how he was feeling at that time, he replied: “I was okay. The last I saw of anyone and Jack, he was running away. I didn’t think, if there was any injury, it would be serious. I went back to Darren’s house.”
He claimed that they did not say anything in the car about what had happened involving Mr Howes. “I didn’t say anything, to be honest with you,” he claimed. “There was not much to say, just casual conversation.”
Arranged to meet girls
Kian Feve claimed that his intention was go by taxi back to Grimsby to “meet some girls” later and that, at 2.40am, he telephoned his sister to get her to unlock the door at the family home in Southfield Road, Scunthorpe. He wanted to “get changed and washed” before going to meet the girls.
“I had been in my clothes all day,” he said. “I had been selling drugs all day and I didn’t want to meet the girls smelling and looking rough. We were trying to get a hotel sorted out so the girls could come to the hotel.”
They did not manage to sort out a hotel, but he and Mr Wattam went by taxi to Grimsby. “That’s where the girls lived,” he said.
They went to Daubney Street, Cleethorpes, to “hook up” with two girls, one of whom lived there. “I knew her through social media,” he said. Mr Wattam was with him.
Mr De La Poer asked Kian Feve: “Did you know that Jack Howes had died?” Kian Feve replied: “No.”
Mr De La Poer asked him when he found out about the death. “Later on, that day when I got back to Scunthorpe,” he replied.
“It was through Facebook. I saw that someone had been killed on Macaulay Street. I was in shock. I didn’t leave my house. I didn’t know what to do. I knew it would only be a matter of time before the police come.”
‘I considered running’
There was a series of messages between him and Mr Wattam and between him and his stepfather. “My head was all over the place,” he claimed. “I didn’t know what to do. I considered running.”
He admitted that he told his family in a telephone call that he would need his birth certificate for his passport. He was taken by his stepfather a couple of days later to the police custody suite in Birchin Way, Grimsby.
He admitted that he gave “no comment” interviews to the police. “My legal team said it was best not to speak at that moment in time,” he said.
The court heard that, in his first defence statement, he admitted stabbing Mr Howes, but claimed that it was in self-defence. He originally claimed that he did not have a knife on him at the time of the confrontation with Mr Howes but, in court, he admitted that his original claims were lies.
“They were false,” he told the jury. “It was a mistake I made. I was scared to admit I had the knife.” He admitted that what he had originally claimed about not having a knife was deliberately untrue.
Mr De La Poer asked: “Why did you take that knife out of your pocket?” Kian Feve claimed: “I was scared for my life.” Mr De La Poer asked him: “Did you intend to kill Jack Howes?” Kian Feve replied: “I didn’t.”
Mr De La Poer asked: “Did you intend to cause him really serious harm?” Kian Feve replied: “I didn’t.” The trial continues.
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Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe