Alleged murderer Ian Franklin had himself been threatened with a knife by an acquaintance of victim Greg Marshall in the days before the York man was stabbed to death, a court heard.
The day before the fatal stabbing, Franklin, 33, called his former friend, drug dealer Jason Rhodes, to say that a named man had threatened him with a knife, a jury at Leeds Crown Court was told.
Giving evidence in the fifth week of the murder trial, Rhodes – who admitted he had frequently supplied cocaine to Franklin – said that this third man had threatened Franklin probably because the man’s girlfriend was round at Franklin’s house “taking drugs all the time”.
When asked by defence barrister Glenn Parsons where the man’s girlfriend was getting her drugs from, Rhodes, 34, replied: “Ian.”
Rhodes said that two weeks before the alleged frenzied stabbing, Franklin had met him and his friend Mr Marshall, a bare-knuckle boxer, at the Monkton shops in York “to drop a few grams off”.
He denied that Mr Marshall had taken his top off in a sign of aggression during the “transaction”.
On August 16 last year, hours before the fatal stabbing, Rhodes and Mr Marshall were having a “few lines” of cocaine at the third man’s home in a York suburb.
At some point that evening, after they had left the man’s flat, Mr Marshall called Rhodes and asked to meet up with him.
Rhodes, of Union Terrace, York, claimed they had met up because “we were eager to find more drugs” and they were calling various contacts to try to score some cocaine.
He said that having failed to do so, he called Franklin because they’d run out of drugs, asking if he had “any dip mate?”
Rhodes claimed that Franklin owed him money, and the drug deal could help to pay off the debt.
Banged on the window
He said that Mr Marshall got off his bike, went into Franklin’s garden and banged on the window. He and Mr Marshall then retreated to the street when they heard a woman shouting.
He said that Franklin and his partner “said something” to Mr Marshall about his wife and that Mr Marshall then punched Franklin’s partner to the ground.
He said he then saw Franklin “run round the corner with a big machete and we ran down the street”. Franklin and Mr Marshall were “grappling” and his friend wrestled the weapon from Franklin who ran away.
Franklin claimed he had charged at Rhodes, Mr Marshall and a third man after seeing them “with tools and weapons”, but Rhodes vehemently denies this and insisted it was Franklin who was brandishing the sword-like weapon.
Mr Marshall threw the machete in the street after wresting it from Franklin as he and Rhodes chased the disarmed man down the street.
Rhodes and Mr Marshall went back to Franklin’s home where Mr Marshall urged his friend to throw a projectile – said to be the discarded machete which Rhodes picked up off the street – through the window.
Rhodes claimed he had simply thrown the machete into a bush.
Mr Marshall then got off his bike and went into the front garden, by which time Franklin’s partner had retreated inside.
Rhodes claimed that Franklin and his partner then “flew out” of the house and, amid piercing screams, Franklin attacked Mr Marshall with a knife.
He didn’t see his friend get stabbed because it all happened “in a matter of 25 seconds”.
Franklin’s barrister Nick Johnson KC said the stabbing occurred just after Mr Marshall punched Franklin’s partner to the ground and that the woman appeared to be unconscious.
He said it was then that Franklin attacked Marshall with the knife in defence of his partner.
Mr Marshall, who wasn’t armed, ran out of the garden into the street, chased by Franklin who, footage showed, was shouting maniacally and brandishing a large, “shiny” weapon.
Rhodes, who said he was carrying a phone in one hand and a can of beer in the other, didn’t realise he himself had been stabbed in the arm but that it must have happened in the street as he was running away.
As Mr Marshall fled, he collapsed in an alleyway and went into cardiac arrest. He was taken to York Hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead at 5.25am, just 40 minutes after the fatal stab wounds were inflicted.
A post-mortem revealed the boxer had suffered fatal wounds to his chest, two of which penetrated his lungs and heart. He suffered 14 stab wounds in total, with other “incised” wounds to his neck and face.
Rhodes, a sometime labourer and plasterer, said he had been “dabbling” in drugs since he was a teenager, and that he had been selling drugs for “about a year or two”.
He admitted he had a criminal past including a previous conviction for using violence to enter premises and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2016 when he broke into his ex-partner’s home by “booting” in the front door, before headbutting and biting her on the arm. He also had a previous conviction for battery.
Rupert Doswell KC said that Franklin stabbed Mr Marshall repeatedly in the chest, face and neck during an attack in his front garden.
Franklin was charged with murder, unlawful wounding and possessing a bladed article in a public place. He denies all allegations.
Rhodes, of Union Terrace, York, was also treated in hospital for a single stab wound but made a full recovery. He was charged with carrying a machete on the grounds that he had no reasonable excuse or lawful reason to be carrying such a weapon, which he denies.
Police searched Franklin’s address, but he wasn’t there. They found several knives including a machete in a cupboard and a 20cm-long knife in the kitchen sink which was submerged in water.
The latter was “assessed as being capable of causing the fatal injuries to Mr Marshall’s chest” and the prosecution alleges it was also the weapon used to stab Rhodes.
Franklin was arrested at a relative’s property in nearby Byland Avenue about five hours after the incident.
He was quizzed by police the following day when he claimed that he and his partner had been woken by a “banging on his door” by “two or three men” whom he claimed were brandishing weapons including “what looked like” a machete, a metal pole and a knife. This was disputed by the prosecution.
Franklin claimed he and his partner had gone outside and he armed himself with a kitchen knife after seeing her attacked by Mr Marshall.
He said at that point he “intervened” and that he “could have stabbed Greg Marshall twice” during the ensuing struggle.
Mr Doswell said there was no dispute that Franklin caused the fatal injuries to Mr Marshall. However, Franklin denies intending to cause the victim at least really serious harm, which the prosecution must prove to secure a conviction for murder and unlawful wounding.
He said it was not disputed that Rhodes suffered a wound to his arm, but Franklin claimed that Rhodes wasn’t in his garden during the incident and denies stabbing him.
Rhodes claims he did have a reasonable and lawful excuse for carrying the machete, namely “to stop myself getting stabbed with it”.
He said he simply took the discarded weapon back to Franklin’s address and discarded it in the hedge. He claims he didn’t throw it through the window.
The trial continues.