Wallasey man allegedly murders friend John Boyd over love triangleA JEALOUS man stabbed a pal “through the heart” after discovering he had started a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, a court heard.
Martin Peters, 45, is alleged to have murdered John Boyd, 38, during a confrontation over his former partner Lesley McGee.Liverpool Crown Court heard Peters armed himself with a knife before going to challenge Mr Boyd.
Jurors were told within minutes he had plunged the blade into Mr Boyd’s heart so deeply it went up to the hilt.
Peters, of Briardale Road, Wallasey, denies a single charge of murder.
But Nicholas Johnson QC told the eight women and four men of the jury Peters had intended to “kill or cause him really serious harm”.
He said: “Mr Peters, perhaps unbeknown to Mr Boyd, was armed with a knife that he had brought with him. Within a minute or two of Mr Peters arriving, John Boyd had been stabbed through, literally stabbed through the heart.
“Mr Boyd quickly lost consciousness and within an hour he had been formally declared dead at Arrowe Park Hospital.”
Mr Johnson told jurors the two men had known each other for a number of years.
But it is alleged Peters erupted into violence after discovering the love triangle.
Mr Johnson described how days before the killing, Miss McGee had split up with Peters and ordered him to move out of the home they shared on Briardale Road, which was in her name. She told him she would stay with a friend on a Leasowe estate while he left the house. But Mr Johnson told jurors: “The truth is that Lesley McGee was staying with John Boyd, the deceased. Unbeknown to Mr Peters, Lesley McGee and John Boyd had started a relationship.”
Mr Johnson told jurors on the morning of the stabbing Ms McGee returned to the home to discover Peters had still not moved out and left a note saying: “I want my house back. Just go or I'll get the police to get you out today.”
But later that day Mr Boyd and a pal bumped into Peters while out buying heroin and a confrontation broke out during which he revealed their relationship.
When Mr Boyd returned to Ms McGee, who was at the next-door neighbour’s home, he told her: “I've just seen that other d****** up the road and told him how it is. I probably better get ready, he’s probably gonna come round here.”
Witnesses saw Mr Boyd put a kitchen knife down the back of his trousers for protection. Soon after, Mr Johnson told jurors that Peters arrived at the house on Birkenhead Road, Seacombe.
Mr Johnson said: “Mr Peters went round to confront them. He was upset at the fact his girlfriend had taken up with John Boyd and he intended to cause John Boyd really serious harm or worse.
“According to the people that were there, there was no effort to reason or negotiate, Mr Peters aggressively confronted Lesley McGee, he progressed to pushing John Boyd and then he started to punch him”
He added: “Mr Boyd had retreated as far as he could in that room. He had been driven back by Mr Peters with his back against the wall. It was in this position that we suggest that, in all likelihood, that the fatal blow was struck by Mr Peters.”
A witness described Mr Boyd saying: “The b****** stabbed me”, before the pair fell to the ground where they struggled as if “trying to kill each other”.
When the melee came to an end, Peters left the house, but when Mr Boyd tried to follow him he collapsed in the doorway. Less than an hour later, he was pronounced dead at hospital. A post-mortem examination confirmed he had been stabbed at least three times. The wound to the chest was so deep, the pathologist said the blade must have been pushed in up to the hilt.
In interview, Peters claimed he had gone round to the house to “negotiate” with Miss McGee about staying at Briardale Road. He claimed it was Mr Boyd who was on top of him and insisted he had acted in self-defence. (Proceeding)
THE WALLASEY NEWS
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No doubt justice will be served, and hope you can in some way begin to get your life back together.