Bodmin murder trial: Toddler told police location of hiding Bodmin murder suspect
Bodycam video from armed police has shown the moment murder accused Jake Hill was arrested the morning after allegedly stabbing Michael Riddiough-Allen to death outside a Bodmin nightclub.
Jurors in the murder trial at Truro Crown Court[1] of Hill, 25, Tia Taylor, 22, and Chelsea Powell, 22, were shown a split screen video from two body cameras worn by Devon and Cornwall Police's[2] armed unit as they raided Taylor's address in Bodmin where Hill was suspected of hiding.
All three defendants, from Bodmin[3], stand charged with one count of murder and an alternative of manslaughter. Hill is also charged with three attempted murder charges, and wounding with intent alternatives, and also two wounding with intent charges with unlawful wounding alternatives. All three deny the charges.
The attempted murder charges relate to Liam Phillips, Ryan Burger and Ryan Parsons and the wounding with intent charges relate to Rhiannon Tompsett and Stefan Williams. Powell and Taylor are both charged with perverting the course of justice, relating to their alleged behaviour after the incident.
After a week of appearing via video link from another women's prison where she is on remand, Taylor was in the dock at Truro[6] Crown Court[7] alongside her co-accused today (Monday, February 12) for what marked the beginning of the third week of the trial.
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Last week the jury was told by pathologist Russell Delaney how the single knife wound keen rugby player Mr Riddiough-Allen received to the abdomen caused un-survivable damage to two major arteries. The jury was also shown a replica of the alleged murder weapon, a large serrated hunting knife with a black blade and paracord wrapped handle. It is now expected to remain on show in a glass case in front of the jury for the duration of the trial.
Today the split screen police video showed officers with machine guns and handguns, with others carrying riot shields, arrive at Taylor's address. They stand at the front and at the rear of her house and can be heard shouting: "Occupant of number 81, this is armed police. Come to the door with nothing in your hands."
The order is repeated several times during a 30-minute stand-off. Some of the officers shout: "If you don't come to the door, we will put your door in. Do you understand?" Others shout: "We can hear you inside Jake. Come out with nothing in your hands." Another one shouts: "We're not going away. The police are surrounding the property."
After several minutes, the front door opens and Taylor appears holding two young children in her arms. She is directed by armed police officers towards another officer with a riot shield standing to the side of her property. The officer asks her if there is anyone else in the house. She denies it is the case but one of the infants in her arms can be heard telling the officer that Hill is in the loft.
After originally pleading not guilty to perverting the court of justice, Taylor today changed her plea to guilty.
In the police video you can see officers come to the front door which is now open and shine their torches and point their guns inside, shouting orders for Hill to come down.
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Another video from that day, with a time stamp of 6.30am, shows the officers underneath the loft hatch. After shouting some more for Hill to come down, they release the hatch and Hill almost falls through only to be bundled to the floor, handcuffed and have his rights read out to him before being taken away.
Also today, Eclipse nightclub's head doorman Steve Ogunniki told the court how he saw Taylor "punching and punching the deceased (Michael Riddiough-Allen) in the face constantly" as he laid on the road outside the nightclub.
In his evidence, Mr Ogunniki, who has worked as a doorman at the nightclub for 15 years, said he had seen a few fights break out outside the club over the years but never one which ended up in a reveller dying in such circumstances.
He told the court that there must have been about 260 people in the club that night. He said a few fights broke out on the road outside and involved up to 30 people at different times. He told the court that he saw Taylor and Powell both punch and kick Mr Riddiough-Allen but admitted under cross-examination that he was not sure about any kicking involved or whether Powell did do any punching either.
However he did recall clearly - something backed by a transcript from his body camera on the night and a statement he gave the police at the time - Taylor punching the deceased several times to the head as he laid on the road in a defensive position. He said: "Tia Taylor was punching the deceased in the face constantly. She was punching and hitting him. It all happened very quickly."
The transcript of his body worn camera was also read out showing a conversation between Mr Ogunniki and another doorman at Eclipse talking about the fight and a man being stabbed. In his evidence Mr Ogunniki told the court he switched his body camera on after first approaching the fight to try to break it up and hearing that there had been a stabbing.
He told the court that he saw another stab victim come towards him "with blood gushing from his groin". That victim was later treated by one of the door staff before emergency services arrived.
In an interview with police at the scene, which was read out in court, Mr Ogunniki said: "Having approached the fight I turned my body camera on. I tried to break up the fight but no-one listened and the fight continued. One male came towards me bleeding heavily from his groin area. It was spurting blood heavily. My colleague tried to do a tourniquet to stop any blood loss.
"I went inside Eclipse to see if there were any stab vest but there were none. I went on the road down the hill to see I could identify anybody."
The three defendants deny the charges. However Taylor has since pleaded guilty to a count of perverting the court of justice. The trial continues.
References
- ^ Truro Crown Court (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Devon and Cornwall Police's (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Bodmin (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Man died and five others stabbed in 'knife rampage' outside club (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Witnesses describe chaotic scenes as man killed outside nightclub (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Truro (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ Court (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ here (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ here on iPhone (apps.apple.com)
- ^ here on Android (play.google.com)
- ^ here (www.cornwalllive.com)