Beeston murder trial: Jury told man stabbed to death outside shop after brothers lured him to area for 'revenge'

A murder trial was told how Keith Harrower died from a knife wound to his neck after being lured to the area believing he was going to buy drugs.

Leeds Crown Court heard Mr Harrower was subjected to a 'joint attack' by brothers Omar Ishaq and Kearon Barker.

Toby Hedworth QC, prosecuting, said Ishaq inflicted a single fatal knife blow to Mr Harrower's neck outside the Premier convenience store on Dewsbury Road, Beeston.

Mr Harrower, 40, died a short time after the incident on December 12, 2019.

The court heard the brothers tried to flee the country later that day by boarding a ferry to Amsterdam but were unable to travel as Ishaq did not have a passport.

Opening the case, Mr Hedworth told jurors: "On a busy teatime in Beeston in December, 2019, a 40-year-old local man was, without warning, stabbed in the neck outside a convenience store.

"He staggered for a few steps towards the door of the shop before collapsing.

"The damage done to blood vessels in his neck by that deliberately inflicted wound caused him to die shortly afterwards.

"That man was in that location because he was lured there with his friend by these two defendants.

"Lured there, say the prosecution, so that he could be attacked by them in revenge for his own criminal activities."

Barker, 31, of Cardinal Crescent, Beeston, and Ishaq, 34, Low Lane, Horsforth, plead not guilty to murder.

Barker also pleads not guilty to possessing an offensive weapon.

The jury was told Ishaq has already pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in relation to the incident.

The prosecutor told the court Mr Harrower was a drug user who had bought drugs from Barker in the past.

Mr Harrower, also known as Joshua French or 'Frenchie', rang Barker, nicknamed 'Kinky', on the day of the killing to arrange to buy drugs.

Mr Hedworth said the defendants went to the area and "laid in wait" for Mr Harrower before attacking him.

CCTV footage showed them standing in a side street shortly before the incident.

Mr Harrower turned up with his friend and was attacked outside the shop moments later.

The prosecutor said: "Mr Harrower was stabbed in the neck by Omar Ishaq.

"The prosecution say that was after Mr Harrower had been distracted by a conversation with Kearon Barker.

"That single stab wound was probably inflicted with a kitchen knife with a six or seven-inch long blade taken to the scene by the defendants.

"It penetrated deeply into the neck with, at the very least say the prosecution, an intention to cause very serious injury or, with all likelihood, killing him. "

Mr Harrower's friend described how Barker said "we got robbed last night" shortly before his brother inflicted the knife wound.

The prosecutor added: "The whole incident lasted no more than a few seconds and must have been, say the prosecution, a joint plan to attack Keith Harrower with a knife."

The attack was captured on a CCTV camera from the store.

Mr Harrower was seen on the footage staggering towards the door of the shop before collapsing around 5.20pm.

Members of the public who witnessed the incident and shop staff tried to help Mr Harrower by stemming the flow of blood from the wound.

He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary by ambulance but was declared dead at 6.30pm that day.

A post mortem found that he died from a single stab wound which would have caused rapid blood loss and penetrated an artery in his neck.

Both defendants left the scene after the attack but Barker later returned and watched events from the other side of Dewsbury Road after changing out a distinctive hi-viz top he had been wearing.

Mr Hedworth said mobile phone evidence placed the defendants in the Cardinals area of Beeston later that evening, near to their mother's home.

Barker sent a text message to the mother of his daughter saying: "Don't talk to anyone."

The court heard Barker and Ishaq were driven to Hull that night by their father with the intention of catching a ferry to Amsterdam.

They returned to Leeds in the early hours of the next day as Ishaq did not have a passport.

Barker was arrested at his partner's home in Beeston at 6am that morning.

Ishaq was arrested at his father's home in Kirkstall two days later.

They were both picked out at an identity procedure by Mr Harrower's friend.

Barker was interviewed by police and claimed he had gone to the area to buy cannabis when he saw a man being attacked.

He told officers he had nothing to do with the injuries inflicted upon the man but fled in panic as he did not want to be asked any questions about the incident.

Ishaq was interviewed and said he had been at his father's home and denied being with his brother on the day of the incident.

Mr Hedworth said: "The prosecution bring this case against these defendants, and therefore it is for the prosecution to prove our case against them.

"It is never, in the courts of this land, for an accused person to prove their innocence. It is always for prosecution to prove guilt."

The trial continues.