A man accused of murdering a father-of-one during a drink and drug fuelled fight has denied he was a drug dealer and denied trying to 'get away with murder'.
Lee Hogg rejected prosecution claims that he was involved in the fatal beating of Carlos Boyce in the early hours of the morning after spending several hours partying with him.
Hogg and Terry Dalton are on trial accused of punching, kicking and stamping, Mr Boyce to death inside his friend’s Middlesbrough flat.
The 38-year-old categorically denied inflicting of the alleged victim’s injuries and maintained it was Joseph Spencer who attacked his drinking partner, Mr Boyce.
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Unser cross examination from Nick Dry, the defendant said he tried to break up a fight between the friend’s when trouble erupted in the flat on Homerton Road, Ormesby, on November 11 last year.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Hogg and Dalton spend several hours taking cocaine and drinking vodka in Mr Spencer’s flat in the hours leading up to the fatal attack on Mr Boyce.
Jurors heard the defendant deny that he was dealing drugs to Mr Boyce and Mr Spencer but admit that he had shared cocaine and vodka with the pair.
Mr Dry asked Hogg why he hung around outside the flat in the Land Rover Freelander that the pair arrived in.
The defendant said he fell asleep in the car and denied that he was putting things in a dustbin in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Mr Dry said: “You knew that you’d killed Mr Boyce. That’s why you went to the trouble of showering him down, washing the body, washing the evidence away. Your sole concern was getting away with the murder.”
Hogg replied: “Definitely not.”
Mr Dry quizzed Hogg about his reason for not contacting the police when he learned of Mr Boyce’s death.
He replied: “All I saw was a fist fight. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
The prosecution barrister then questioned Hogg about why he had ‘hidden’ out in Stokesley and Darlington before his arrest on November 13.
He said: “You murdered him, washed your bloody clothes, you were trying to leave the country, hiding out in the countryside, pretending you were Jonathan Hogg when you were arrested. Concocting a lying account on oath.”
The defendant replied: “No.”
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Jurors watched CCTV footage of the two defendants drinking in The Comet pub in Hurworth, near Darlington, before Hogg was arrested in Dalton on Tees when they were kicked out of the hotel for being too rowdy.
In body-worn camera footage from the arresting officer, Hogg denied having anything to do with the alleged murder. The court heard how the defendant initially gave a false name and date of birth before admitting his true identity saying: “I’ve done nowt man. I haven’t murdered anyone.”
Hogg, 38, of Lindsfarne Road, Ormesby, and 53-year-old Dalton, of Ellerbeck Way, Middlesbrough, have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing grievous bodily harm on Mr Spencer.
The trial continues.
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