An alleged murderer told a burglar he found in his home he would 'kill him' if he didn’t confess before inflicting fatal wounds on him, a court has heard.
Karl Townsend appears to make the threat to Jordan Brophy in CCTV footage captured on October 29 last year and played before a jury today. Townsend and his half-brother, Jamie Cunningham, are standing trial accused of the murder of Mr Brophy at Liverpool Crown Court.
The pair allegedly armed themselves with knives after being alerted by Ring doorbell to a break-in at Townsend's Halewood home. Prosecutors say they rushed to the address and confronted the intruders.
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Townsend is said to have stabbed Mr Brophy in the head and arm, before twice knifing him in the face. One stab wound went through his left optic nerve, leaving a broken blade embedded in his brain.
Liverpool Crown Court has heard Townsend and Cunningham left the scene, but then returned, when Townsend allegedly stabbed the "defenceless" 31-year-old in his jugular vein "out of revenge or punishment" . Richard Pratt, QC, prosecuting, has said Townsend does not dispute causing Mr Brophy's death but denies murder.
Today, the jury heard from further prosecution witnesses and were played a range of CCTV footage showing various stages of the incident on October 29. That included footage from the Ring doorbell on Townsend’s Beechwood home, which shows Mr Brophy and two unidentified men climbing over a side fence before breaking into the property at the back.
A separate camera shows Townsend, who was alerted to the break in through an app on his phone, arrive at the front of the property with Cunningham only a few seconds later. They confront the three men in the home and Townsend can be heard shouting “hey, what are you doing lad, get out”, before going into the property.
There is then the sounds of scuffling and fighting inside the home but this cannot be seen in any footage. Brophy can be seen running out the side of the property and becoming separated from the two men he was with while shouting “I can’t see, I can’t see”.
Merseyside Police’s John Smedley, who was responsible for collating the footage for the investigation, also showed jurors footage from other houses as Townsend appears to follow Mr Brophy and confront him outside.
Mr Smedley said: “From listening to the previous videos I ascertained that the voice was Jordan Brophy. He says ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me. I didn’t f***ing…’ and then it becomes inaudible.”
Mr Smedley said Townsend can then be heard asking “who was it, who was it?” before he sees Brophy again and starts shouting at him. Summarising what is said by Townsend in the next piece of footage, Mr Smedley said: “The first sentence is ‘Just seen you in my house. Hey Jordan, you know what you’re doing, robbing my house. Tell me lad or I’ll kill you.”
The incident during which the prosecution allege Townsend inflicted a catastrophic wound to Brophy’s neck is not visible in the footage. Yesterday, horrified neighbours described as they tried desperately help Mr Brophy after that stabbing and while he lay dying in the street.
Cunningham and Townsend, both of Beechwood Avenue, deny murder. The defence is yet to present their case to the jury.
(Proceeding)
