Builder 'lured to house and beaten' in Newport, court told

Matthew Bowring was so terrified he jumped through an upstairs bedroom window to escape the men – one of whom was brandishing a kitchen knife and another a broken wooden chair leg – at the house in Newport.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard he had gone to the house in Henley Drive to collect £80 he was owed by Paul Edwards and Brogan Davis, who lived there.

But on arrival he was attacked and robbed by a group of four men, prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski told the jury on the first day of a trial.

Keiran Joyce, 29, of Shawfield, Sutton Hill, Telford, denies causing Mr Bowring grievous bodily harm and robbery.

Andrew McNab, 31, Edwards, 37, and Davis, 21, all of Henley Drive, Newport, and Benjamin Parks, of Gladstone Street, Hadley, Telford, all deny robbery.

James Delaney, 29, of Wyvern, Woodside, Telford, has admitted causing grievous bodily harm and robbery and will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial.

Mr Kolodynski told the jury: "The female defendant or Edwards didn't play any part in the assault – the Crown say the people who assaulted Mr Bowring were Joyce, McNab, Parks and Delaney. It was Edwards and Brogan who, in effect, lured the unsuspecting victim to their house."

The prosecutor told the court the assault on Mr Bowring started almost as soon as he had walked into the house on August 17, 2014.

"Delaney picked up a large kitchen knife and immediately started to prod Mr Bowring with it, pointing it very close to his neck," Mr Kolodynski said.

"All four of them started asking Mr Bowring for money. One of the group took his wallet from him and took out £180 cash."

The court heard McNab and Parks left the house at that point – McNab with Mr Bowring's iPhone – but the victim was pushed through into the living room where the assault by Joyce and Delaney continued.

"By now he was bleeding profusely from a number of cuts and injuries to his body," the prosecutor said.

"Delaney was still brandishing the knife – he gave Mr Bowring a black mobile phone and demanded he ring people to ask for money.

"Joyce went into the kitchen and returned with a broken wooden chair leg, and he began hitting Mr Bowring with it.

"Delaney, with the kitchen knife, lunged towards Mr Bowring's stomach.

"He managed to parry it off but it caused serious injury to his hand, severing tendons and requiring surgery leaving him unable to grip things."

The prosecutor said McNab said he needed to go upstairs to the bathroom – but instead jumped through the bedroom window and clambered over a fence before escaping. "You may wish to ask yourselves how much fear someone needs to be in to risk jumping out of an upstairs window to get away from it," Mr Kolodynski said to the jury.

Paramedics informed police of the attack, and a police dog following the scent of the victim's blood went to the house at Henley Drive and found Brogan and Edwards hiding in bushes in the back garden.

The trial continues.