Man who denies knife murder said he was carrying weapon to frighten off his victim

A 19-YEAR-OLD man denying the murder of another man told a jury yesterday he never intended to hurt him with an illegal butterfly knife and only had it to frighten him off.

Wayne Wardle said Sean Rodgers chased him on to a bridge at the Stanningley bypass in Leeds.

He told the jury at Leeds Crown Court he knew Sean was fitter and could catch him and decided to stop.

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"I thought if I produced the knife he would stop chasing me, he would back off, stop the fight and I would be able to go home."

He told his counsel Rodney Jameson QC he only intended to show it to him. "I hoped that he would stop and back away from me," he said.

But he did not think Mr Rodgers saw it. "He carried on coming towards me with his fists clenched and he punched me to the left side of my head."

Wardle said he crouched down and put his hands over his head to protect himself and tried to push Mr Rodgers away.

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"Did you deliberately stick the knife in his body," asked Mr Jameson. "No," replied Wardle who said eventually he was able to run off.

He said he had not intended to hurt him and had not realised he had done so.

Wardle, of Wellstone Garth, Bramley, Leeds, denies the murder of Mr Rodgers, 20, of Greenthorpe Road, Armley, Leeds in June.

The jury has heard Mr Rodgers bled to death from injuries including a deep wound in his abdomen that had cut through an artery.

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Wardle said earlier that night when he was drunk and waiting for a taxi with his girlfriend outside a pub in Stanningley Road he had got into a row with a friend.

Mr Rodgers's girlfriend became involved and he had called her "a slag". That had led to Mr Rodgers and him shouting at each other before Mr Rodgers began to chase him but he got away and went home.

Wardle said he rang his friend to apologise and also spoke to Sean Rodgers. "He was calling me a pussy."

Wardle said he feared Rodgers was going to come to his home so decided to go and meet him to prevent that. He put the knife in his pocket. "I thought if I had it with me I could use it to scare him and stop him hitting me."

When he got to the bridge Mr Rodgers was not alone but with another man so initially he ran.

The hearing continues.

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