Man denies stabbing two teenagers to death in 'gang attack' at house party in Milton Keynes

Charlie Chandler is one of four people on trial for a double killing at the Emerson Valley party, last October.

He this week told a jury he played no part in the murders of the two 17-year-olds, who had been best friends since childhood.

A type 1 diabetic who needs insulin on a daily basis, Chandler is alleged to have taken part in a gang-related attack on the two boys.

Luton Crown Court heard previously how masked members of the West Bletchley-based 'B3' , had been tipped off that rivals from a Westrcroft gang known as M4 would be at the party.

Partygoers celebrating a girl's birthday described how a gang of masked intruders jumped over the garden fence and burst into the house to repeatedly stab Dom and Ben.

Ben died instantly from a stab wound to the chest while Dom was "repeatedly stabbed as he lay on the ground," the court heard.

Two others were stabbed by the group, but survived.

Mr Chandler told the court he thought he was going to a party with friends at the house in Archford Croft.

He said it was only when he and the group got out of a taxi that he saw the others were wearing masks as they climbed a garden fence to get into the rear of the property.

“I had a feeling something was not right because no one climbs a fence with face coverings,” he told the jury.

And he said he remained by the garden gate and at no point did he enter the house that night.

Chandler, Fitzwilliam Street, Bletchley, and Clayton Barker, 20, of Surrey Road in Bletchley, have both pleaded not guilty to double murder. Also denying the charges are two co-defendants aged 16 and 17, who cannot be named because of their ages.

All four also deny wounded with intent another 17-year-old youth and a 23-year-old man who were at the party that night.

At the start of the trial, which began in early November, a fifth defendant, 23-year-old Earl Bevans pleaded guilty to the two charges of murder as well as the two wounding with intent charges.

The jury was told that after arriving at the house in a taxi, the four defendants and Earl Bevans burst into the rear of the house armed and masked.

In the lounge, it’s alleged that Ben was stabbed six times, and he died almost immediately.

Dom is said to have run from the house and, after being chased, was stabbed a total of 47 times about his body and limbs.

He was rushed to hospital but died a short while later.

Giving evidence, Chandler told the court he had left school at 16 he went to college to study carpentry.

He said he spent the day of the murders at his flat with his girlfriend, but went out in the afternoon to get some medication for his diabetes and did some food shopping

Later that day he said his girlfriend’s friend came to the flat and around 8pm Clayton Barker, who he knew and who sometimes stayed at his flat, also arrived.

He said: “We were all just listening to music, chilling and smoking a bit of weed.”

Later that night he said they had some brandy.

Chandler said that as the evening wore on, he discovered Clayton Barker getting ready to go out and he learned he was going to a party.

He said he was told others he knew were outside his flat waiting and when Barker asked him “Are you coming?” he quickly grabbed his things and joined them outside where they all got in the taxi.

Chandler said apart from him and Barker, also in the taxi were two teenage boys he knew, and Earl Bevans who he hadn’t met before.

Barrister Giles Cocking QC, who defends Chandler, asked him: “Did you have a machete with you?”

He replied: “Not at all, No.”

Mr Cocking asked: “Did you see anyone in the taxi with a weapon?”

He answered: “No I did not.”

Continuing his evidence, Chandler told the jury the taxi made a brief stop at a garage where some of the group briefly got out before getting back in.

He said on arrival at the house where the party was being held, he and the others got out of the taxi and he said he walked into Archford Croft, telling the court that he was a couple of metres ahead of the others.

“As I looked around, the four lads were running towards the front door. I saw them heading towards the front door and that’s when I saw face coverings,” he said.

Asked by his barrister if he’d brought a mask along with him, he said he hadn’t.

He went on: “I had a feeling something was not right so I pulled my T-shirt up over my nose.”

The defendant then told the court he ended up standing by the back gate and said others had “climbed the fence into the back of a house".

Mr Cocking then asked him: “Did you go into the house at any stage?”

Chandler replied: “No I did not.”

Asked by his barrister what he thought was going on, he replied: “I didn’t know, but I had a bad feeling something was not right because no one climbs a fence with face coverings.”

He said he had been by the gate for 10 to 15 seconds when he heard a female screaming.

“After the screaming, I saw a male run from number three past me towards The Redway and I then saw a group of males come bursting out of the house,” he told the court.

He said the lone male, followed by the group, turned out of sight, but moments later he saw him reappear, running back towards the house.

Chandler said the person fell, allowing the others to catch him and attack him in the street.

He said as it was happening, he ran towards The Redway and stood by some bollards.

Asked why, he replied: “Because when the attack started I just wanted to get out of the way. I didn’t want to be part of it all.”

He described to the jury seeing Dom being attacked before getting to his feet and running to the front door of the house, before running back into the middle of the road where he was attacked again.

Chandler told the jury: “Dom got up and made his way to the front door and realised the door was locked and the attack continued in the middle of the road.

He described to the court seeing a male “hacking down while Dom cowed on the floor.”

The defendant then told the jury: “I could see a male with a machete swing up and down screaming ‘Get him, get him, ....ing get him!”

He added: “ I didn’t want to be involved, I wanted to keep my distance, because I was not involved.”

Again questioned by his barrister he claimed he hadn’t been armed with a machete at any stage and hadn’t attacked anyone.

He said when the boy managed to reach the front door for a second time he was again attacked by a male with a machete.

“Dom ran at the door again and that’s when I saw someone lunging with a machete and hit him in the back.”

He went on “I saw Dom by the door with loads of blood coming from his side.”

Chandler said he then made off on foot running down The Redway.

He said he met up with the others who he had travelled with to the party and asked “what the .... had just happened?”

The court was then told how the group began jogging away from the scene and it was at that stage that he said he saw Earl Bevan put a knife down a drain.

Chandler said later that night he got a taxi to London because he wanted to speak to his mother and get some advice from her.

In London he said he told her what had happened and the next day he returned to Milton Keynes where he handed himself into the police.

The case continues.