A SERIES of witnesses were this week called to testify in the court case relating to the death last September of Danny Fox.

Individuals who had been present during the events of the early hours of September 2 answered questions put to them by the prosecution and defence teams.

Leighton William Holt, 20, who is accused of Danny’s murder, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday and Tuesday, with short dark hair and was wearing a navy blue suit and tie.

Witness Andrew Parr, 26, a former doorman who had been out with Danny on the night of the stabbing, told the court they had congregated outside Bar 44 when it closed at around 3am. 

He said: “Someone threatened Joely. Joely told me Leighton had asked her for a cigarette and I slapped him with my left hand. It was a open-handed slap to his face. I just wanted to move him.”

He added: “He said ‘I’ll f***ing slice you.”

Mr Parr said Holt put his hand in his jacket to get something but that he didn’t see what it was. 

He said Holt’s girlfriend had pulled him away from the group and they started “edging back”.

He said: “I heard Foxy (Danny) say ‘He’s got a knife’.”

He said Danny wanted to follow them to “see if she (Holt’s girlfriend) was okay”.

He said he, Danny and Joely had followed Holt and his girlfriend down the side road on to North John Street, firstly walking and then running.

He said he could not remember why they started running after Holt.

He said he and Danny had split up at the Sports Direct car park and ran in different directions, with Holt in front of him and that Holt suddenly changed direction and ran left towards Danny.

He said didn’t see what happened to Danny but he “realised something wasn’t right and went to help Foxy” who, he said, was saying “I’ve been stabbed”.

John Jones QC, defending, asked Mr Parr: “Was your purpose in some way to show off in front of Joely Maudsley? She asked for your help and so you sorted this man out.”

He added: “You were out to get him (…) That is why you and Foxy split up, like a pincer movement to try to get him.”

Mr Parr denied this, saying their motivation was to get Holt out of the area.

Joel Maudsley (known as Joely), who told the court she had joined the group after finishing her shift at Kandy Klub in the early hours of September 2, said she had difficulty remembering the details from the night as she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

She said: “A boy came over and asked if I’d save him half my cigarette and I said ’no’ and he said he’d punch me. I told one of the boys and he said something to him. I heard someone behind me say ‘he’s got a knife’ and everybody started moving towards Sports Direct."

She said she was arguing with Holt's girlfriend.

The jury was shown footage of Holt and his girlfriend walking down Rigby Street towards Sports Direct, followed by Mr Parr, Danny and Joely and, a little behind them, Peter Edwards, another friend of Danny and Mr Parr.

Peter Edwards, a doorman at Kandy Klub, told the court he had not been drinking that night, and that he was following Mr Parr and Danny because “they were my mates”.

He said at around 3am outside Bar 44, he was talking to another friend and “Andy, Joely and them were in a little group.

“Someone approached them, I didn’t know who it was, a male.

“I didn’t hear anything. I saw Andrew Parr slap him (Holt)."

He added: “Leighton Holt stepped back to walk away taking backwards steps. After he took a couple of steps back he reached into his coat pocket and pulled a knife out. He had the knife in his hand and was shouting stuff like ‘come on’ to Andy and Foxy.

"There was a girl with him who came over screaming at him. The girl was holding him back. It looked like she was trying to stop him coming towards the group. She was successful to a degree.

“Then Andy and Foxy started to walk towards them.

“Leighton Holt and his girlfriend got to the road which separates the Wheatsheaf pub from Sports Direct and then he ran and Danny and Andy ran after him.”

He said: “I ran after them.”

He added: “I got to Sports Direct. In front of me, Andrew Parr was running after Leighton and Foxy had turned left and was running down that way. They split up.”

“Leighton changed direction quite quickly and met up with Foxy. Foxy had run to a certain point - opposite Shake and Bake - and had stopped. He was walking.

“Leighton had run round to the left and Leighton and Foxy were facing each other, they came together on the footpath opposite Shake and Bake.”

He added: “Holt came towards me and I threw a (plastic) bottle of water at him. I don't know what happened to Andy. We went towards Foxy, who was in distress.

“He was saying ‘I’be been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed’.

“He was bleeding really bad.”

Mr Jones, defending, showed the jury copies of Facebook posts allegedly made by Mr Edwards the day after the stabbing in which it is indicated the men were trying to 'grab' Holt.

A witness who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he and a friend heard "shouting and screaming” at around 3am coming from a side road off Westfield Street.

He indicated it was Leighton Holt’s then girlfriend who was screaming. He said: “There was some altercation with her boyfriend”.

He said the pair were followed down the side road by a group of four or five men “who I thought looked like bouncers”.

Watching from bollards opposite Sports Direct, the witness, who was distressed as he spoke, said he saw the bouncers “gather around” Holt and then he described seeing a “slashing movement, high up.”

Leighton Holt denies the charge of murder.

(Proceeding)