Several days before the start of the trial Jordan and Dean Curtis were summoned to Newcastle Crown Court. There they were both charged with the wounding of Jamie Thompson. It is believed that the charges were added against Jordan to secure a conviction of joint enterprise. Police had no more evidence against Jordan than they did when he was first arrested, why weren’t the charges brought against him then? Jordan’s defence team told Jordan that they would not oppose the charge being added to the indictment but would instead lodge with the trial Judge a submission of no case to answer on the grounds of there being no evidence to support the charge. Tony Hawkes admitted stabbing Jamie Thompson albeit after he was ID’d as the stabber, however he did not say that he sent Jordan over to distract Jamie in order for him to do this.

On the 8^th of October 2007 the trial started, an application was put before the judge requesting him to declare no case to answer for the charge of wounding in the case against Jordan. The Judge subsequently denied the application saying that the initial conversation between Jordan and Jamie could be used as evidence against Jordan. The Judge accepted the prosecution argument that Jordan could have asked Jamie for a cigarette in order to distract him so the others could attack him.

Evidence during trial

There were two eye witnesses to the first incident, the fist witness was AB. AB was Kevin Johnson’s fiancé. AB told the court that after being out for a drink with Kevin to a local pub she and Kevin then returned home. She said that they had a silly argument over a packet of crisps and she went to bed in a mood. Kevin later followed her upstairs and into the bedroom. She said she then heard loud voices outside in the street and Kevin went over to the bedroom window to see what was causing the noise. She was asked if the noise was coming from one place or was it travelling and she told the court that it was travelling down the street.

She said Kevin went quickly downstairs. She told the court that he did not tell her but she knew where he was going. She was asked if he exchanged words from the bedroom window her answer was no. She then told the court she went to the window but could not see anything so she followed Kevin downstairs. When she went out onto the street she said she saw Kevin fighting with two males. They were all throwing punches but she did not know if any of them were connecting. She told the court that there was another male about 25-30 foot away standing in the road. She did not see this male come into contact with Kevin, she did not take much notice of that male.

AB told the court that she shouted she was phoning the police and went in the house to get her phone. When she returned to the street the three males had left and Kevin was walking back towards her. She told the court that Kevin lifted up his top and said something about being stabbed, he then walked towards a low wall. He fell face first over the wall and it was then her neighbour Marsha Newby came on the scene.

Marsha Newby was the second eye witness. She told the court that she was in her bedroom and heard shouting, she turned her TV down so she could hear. She told the court that she heard Kevin shouting from his bedroom window, he said ‘what do I have to get in my window for’. She then went to her window and she saw an unknown male standing in the street, he was looking up at Kevin’s bedroom window. She said the male was beckoning Kevin to come out, he was doing this with both hands whilst walking backwards. She sees Kevin come to his gate and walk towards the unknown male. She opened her window and leaned out to get a better view, it is then she saw a second male. He too was beckoning with both hands and walking backwards.

They disappear from her sight so she moves to a landing window, it is then she saw a third male standing in the road. He was standing further back, the other two were in close contact to Kevin. The two closer to Kevin suddenly start attacking Kevin, she saw male 2 use a back handed motion with his left hand toward Kevin’s chest. Kevin went down but quickly recovered. She thought that male had a knife but did not see one. The fight then breaks up and the third male threw a rock toward Kevin, it was aimed at his legs but missed. The three then ran off laughing and she then went onto the street where she saw Kevin had collapsed. It was put to Marsha that male 3 had stood back throughout the fight and did not join in, she agreed with this. It was put to Marsha that the rock was thrown several feet away from Kevin and she replied ‘it was still tossed wasn’t it’.

Jordan denies the rock was thrown at Kevin. Marsha Newby herself is no law abiding citizen. She herself was in the Sunderland Echo not long after the trial for assaulting a police officer.

In relation to count 2 wounding with intent, Jamie Thompson gave evidence. He said he was going to the garage where he was meant to meet up with his girlfriend. He said he was walking up a road in the Grindon area when he saw 3 youths on the other side of the road. He said one of the youths was walking ahead of the other two. He told the court that the youth walking ahead crossed the road and asked him for a cigarette, he said he did not have any and walked past the boy. He told the court he was then stopped by the other two youths who had by now crossed the road. He said that one of them asked him if he was called Jamie and the other one was acting aggressive. He said he confirmed he was called Jamie and he said he was then stabbed in the chest.

Jamie attended an ID parade and picked Tony Hawkes out as the person who stabbed him. He could not ID any other person that was there. It was put to Jamie that male 1 was not aggressive nor did he stop him in his path at any time, Jamie agreed with this. It was put to Jamie he had past male 1 before he was stabbed by the other male, Jamie also agreed with this. Jamie said male 1 stood back, male 2 stabbed him and male 3 encouraged the stabbing. It was put to Jamie that the initial conversation with the first youth involved heroin to which he replied ‘I didn’t say that, I don’t want to answer, I didn’t say that.

It is fair to say that Jordan did not see the stabbing of either victim. In relation to the murder it was clear that Jordan was standing some distance away and the evidence established that when Jordan left the scene the victim was on his feet walking back towards his home. In relation to the stabbing of Jamie Thompson, Jordan told police that he had seen Jamie running away clutching his side. This proves that Jordan did not know Jamie had been stabbed because Jamie was stabbed in the chest, why would he run away clutching his side? Jamie did not shout out that he had been stabbed, Jamie told the court that Jordan was stood several metres back so it is very probable that Jordan could not have known.

When the prosecution had stated his case another application for no case to answer was submitted on behalf of Jordan. Again the judge refused this submission stating what he had previously stated. Jordan has always claimed that the initial conversation with Jamie involved smack, it has since come to light that Jamie Thompson was at that time being prescribed methadone. There is no way that Jordan could have known that Jamie Thompson was dependant on heroin. This evidence could have strongly supported Jordan’s case. It would have cast doubt on the prosecution’s allegations that Jordan only stopped Jamie and asked him for a cigarette in order to cause a distraction.

What is said above is the only alleged evidence of Jordan’s participation in relation to murder and wounding. The prosecution alleged that Jordan shared the same intent as the main perpetrator/s and so was equally guilty of the crime. There were other witnesses throughout the trial but none relevant to Jordan’s case. All other evidence was based on the other two co-accused after Jordan had left them. Not one person alleged that Jordan was involved in either incident. No DNA evidence was found on any of Jordan’s clothing, he has maintained the same story throughout with exception to the knife. Jordan’s story matched with that of the prosecution witnesses.

Tony Hawkes and Dean Curtis changed their stories during trial. They blamed each other and finally confirmed that Jordan played no part in the murder, however Dean Curtis told the court, in relation to count 2 the wounding of Jamie Thompson, that it was Jordan who was stood next to Tony Hawkes and encouraged the stabbing. He claimed that the only thing he did was sit on a wall. Jamie Thompson confirmed to the court that the one who he had the initial conversation with was the one who stood back. Both co-accused fiercely denied that Jordan had a knife, both saying that Jordan is not like that. Jordan was advised not to give evidence during trial and there were a lot of serious problems with his defence. There are a lot of things about this that cannot be disclosed until after Jordan has had a fair appeal hearing.