A THIRD man accused of murder has been giving evidence and has told a jury: "I love my Uncle John and always will."

Mark Pickering brawled with his 47-year-old uncle John Pickering at a wake before they agreed to meet up to settle their differences.

The 32-year-old arrived at his uncle's home with four other men, and after the father-of-four had been stabbed, his two sons were involved in violence outside their home.

One of them suffered knife wounds and the other was stabbed through the heart and died shortly afterwards.

Mark Pickering told the jury that he had no idea his cousin, Kieron Ibitson, had taken a knife to a confrontation to sort out a family row.

After the wake brawl, he said his uncle demanded he go up to his home to resolve the row, and in a police interview he described the renowned bare-knuckle fighter as "a lunatic that night and scary".

He claimed to told his uncle - who he repeatedly referred to as John George - that he wanted to see him the following day, but said he was told: "If you don't come and see me, I'll come to you."

He said he did not want him to turn up at his home where five of his seven children were staying, so was left with little option but to go to the house in Meadowcroft Road in Normanby, near Middlesbrough.

The prosecution claims he recruited a "team" of brother Dominic Pickering, 23, Ibitson, 21, his best friend and "handy lad" Jahmal Weaver, 22, and the boyfriend of Ibitson's sister, Jack Cross, 21.

The court heard that Mr Cross's car pulled up outside Mr Pickering's home, where the father-of-four was standing bare-chested and pacing back and forth outside his front door.

Dominic Pickering has told the jury that Mr Pickering clapped his hands and said: "Come on, who wants it first."

Mr Pickering claims that it was Dominic who clapped his hands and said: "Wait till you see what we've got for you."

As Mark Pickering and his uncle were trading blows, the householder was stabbed from behind by Ibitson and immediately fled back towards his home.

"It would have been a simple couple of words and none of that would have happened," Mark Pickering said on the 12th day of the trial. "I didn't expect my Uncle John to do that.

"I love my Uncle John. I still love him now. It doesn't make a difference what he had done to me. I look up to him. He is a role model."

Mr Pickering's two sons - Steven Willis, 27, and Lennon Pickering, 17 - became involved in the violence, and Mr Willis brought a samurai sword from the garage.

Lennon was also knifed and Mr Willis was stabbed through the heart, and died shortly afterwards, the court has been told.

Ibitson has admitted stabbing his uncle Mr Pickering, and said he was angry because in the trouble at the wake he had hit his mother Susan - Mr Pickering's sister.

The jury has heard that the siblings had been at loggerheads for years, and Mr Pickering said it was because his sister had tried to break up his marriage.

Mark Pickering said Ibitson had told nobody that he had taken a fearsome-looking hunting knife to the confrontation, and would not have gone if he knew that he had.

He is being asked questions by his barrister, Sam Green, QC, which will continue for much of the morning before he is cross-examined by prosecutor, Richard Wright, QC.

He told the court that he had had disputes with his uncle before, but they had always been resolved "with a cuddle and a kiss".

Mr Green asked a series of questions, to all of which Mr Pickering replied "no" as he sobbed.

He was asked:

  • "Did you ever intend your cousin Steven to die?"
  • "Did you ever intend Steven really serious bodily harm?"
  • "Did you ever intend anyone to die that day?"
  • "Did you intend anyone to suffer really serious bodily injury?"

Mr Green asked: "We now all know that Kieran Ibitson that evening went to 1 Meadowcroft Road with a knife on his person. As you went around did you know Kieran Ibitson had a knife?" Reply: "No".

"Would you have gone if if you had known he had a knife?" Answer: "No. I would not have anything to do with any type of weapon."

Mr Green: "As you travelled there and got out of the car and walked towards John Pickering, and then as you began to fight, did it s much as cross your mind anyone would ever get stabbed?"

Mr Pickering: "No. I thought me and my Uncle John would sort it out and he would give me a cuddle like he normally did. We have had a falling out in the past, and it has never ever come to blows, ever. We have always sorted it out with a kiss and a cuddle."

Mr Green: "As you stepped out of the car, did it ever cross your mind anyone might be carrying a knife?"

Mr Pickering: "Never."

The father-of-seven said even after they left the scene, he had no idea anyone had been stabbed, and first knew Ibitson had taken a knife when he was shown CCTV footage of the fighting after he had been arrested.

He said he had been on good terms with his uncle at the funeral, but exchanged words about the way he had spoken to his grandmother at the wake, but it was quickly sorted out.

The court has heard that at least the two Pickering brothers, their uncle and Lennon had taken cocaine as well as alcohol at the wake at the Teesside Bridge Social Club in North Ormesby, near Middlesbrough, on April 16.

It has been claimed that another dispute between Mark and John Pickering blew up over suggestions that Lennon had given a partially-sighted great-uncle some of the drugs in the toilets.

The two men ended up brawling outside before other family members intervened, and they agreed to meet to resolve the dispute.

Mark Pickering said he had been having vodka then brandy and cokes, before switching to water at 6pm when he was unable to drink any more and "was getting really jolly".

Recalling the brawl, he old the court: "He was saying he was going to kill me, smash my head in, who did I think I was , big boy, just being threatening towards me.

"He told me he was going home, saying 'get up my house' and my grandad was stood in front of me, crying, and I said 'I'm not going to'.

"I said to John 'I will come to see you tomorrow' and my grandad said 'I will take you'.

"He said if I didn't go to see him, he would come to mine.

"I was just scared for the kids. I didn't want him coming to my house where the kids were."

Dominic Pickering, 23, of Grinkle Avenue, Mark Pickering, 32, of Greenham Close, Mr Ibitson, 21, of Beresford Crescent, Mr Weaver, 22, of Rounton Green, and Mr Cross, 21, of Olney Walk, all Middlesbrough, deny murder and manslaughter as well as wounding Lennon Pickering with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

All but Mr Ibitson deny wounding John Pickering with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Dominic Pickering told the court on Wednesday that he was close to his uncle, who had once taken him to Disneyland in Florida with his cousins Steven and Lennon.

He said he had left the wake to go home at about 9pm with his long-term partner, giving all three relatives "kisses and cuddles".

About an hour later, he said, he received a "screaming, hysterical" phone call from a female relative saying: "Uncle John's knocked my mam out in the road. Will you come down, please?"

He went back to the club and saw Mark covered in blood, already in a car belonging to Mr Cross, with Ibitson already in the front seat.

He thought they were going to the home of his Aunty Susan, but picked up boxer Mr Weaver and travelled to Meadowcroft Road.

He told how he was fighting Lennon, when Mr Willis came out with the sword.

"I was terrified. I stepped back out of the way. I tried to back away as far as I could," he said. "Steven was shouting and screaming 'I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him'. At that point, I didn't know who Steven meant. I thought he was going to kill my brother, so I ran over and just acted out of instinct. I didn't know what to do.

"I didn't know what he would do with it. I'd seen him chase Kieran and hit the car. "

Mr Willis was disarmed by the brothers, and the prosecution claims he was stabbed by Ibitson.

Ibitson said if it was his knife that caused the fatal wound, it was in "lawful self-defence" as he feared for his life.

Mr Wright has begun cross-examining Mr Pickering and asked him why some of his evidence - that his uncle's wife demanded the sword back as they fled, and him saying upon arrival "what's going on here, then John George (his uncle)" were not mentioned in his police interviews.

He said: "I was heartbroken over what happened to Steven. I was heartbroken over what happened to John George. It was a traumatic time. I was under a lot of stress. I had just been beaten up. I cried thought that interview."

Mr Wright accused Mr Pickering - who claimed he had got mixed up with things - investing evidence, to which he replied: "I'm sorry, Mr Wright, but you're wrong."

(Proceeding)