Defendant in dramatic U-turn after Telford stabbing case trial
A man has finally admitted stabbing another man with a lock knife during a fight in Shropshire – after spending more than a week in the dock denying the charge.
Judge Robin Onions discharged the jury at Shrewsbury Crown Court after it was unable to reach verdicts on two counts against Alan David Evans.
The panel had cleared him of wounding Jermaine Moore with intent yesterday, but they were unable to come to a decision on charges of unlawful wounding and possessing a bladed article in a public place and were sent home.
The Crown Prosecution Service indicated immediately it would be pushing for a retrial on the two charges.
But Evans, 37, performed a dramatic U-turn and pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding yesterday afternoon.
Prosecutors said the charge of possessing a knife would be allowed to lie on file.
Mr Moore, aged 20, spent eight days in hospital with a punctured kidney after he was stabbed during the fight in Telford on July 11 this year.
Evans, of Mercia Drive, Leegomery, Telford, had been at the Station Hotel in Station Road, Wellington, at about 11.20pm with his dog, then walked to the nearby railway station where he saw Mr Moore with three friends.
Prosecuting counsel Miss Siobhan Collins had told the court Evans went up to them to ask for a cigarette and there was some banter.
But she said the mood "soured" when Evans started to use racist language and the fight happened when the men came face to face again later that night in Wellington.
The jury was shown CCTV of the incident from cameras at the pub and the station.
Evans has denied charges of wounding with intent, an alternative charge of unlawful wounding and having an article with a blade in a public place throughout the trial before the about-turn yesterday.
The case was adjourned until December 9, when Evans will appear back at court to be sentenced. He was remanded in custody until that date.
