Sam Davies murder trial: Prison cell pal ‘supplied the knife for stabbing’

The jury in the Sam Davies murder trial has been told the knife used in the stabbing was owned and supplied by defendant Joe Jameson.

Co-defendant Daniel Heydari made the claim on his second day of giving evidence at Nottingham Crown Court, on Friday, March 4.

Heydari said he knew Jameson had bought the Rambo movie-style knife in Leeds and had seen it in Jameson’s bedroom about a month before the killing.

Jameson had told the jury that he had only wanted Mr Davies “scared off” and not harmed by alleged stabber Eimantas Gochman after Mr Davies had made death threats.

But Heydari said in evidence: “In prison, [Jameson] told me that it was the knife used to stab Sam Davies and he gave it to Gochman.”

Heydari’s representative, Simon Russell-Flint QC, asked him if he knew how much Jameson had paid Gochman.

The reply was: “Yes, he told me. He said five thousand. To my knowledge, Joe offered to pay him five thousand. I don’t know if the money ever changed hands.”

Heydari also claimed Jameson had said he would admit messages of “need someone dipped up” and “there’s five there” found on Heydari’s phone were sent by Jameson.

“He wanted to wait until after the prosecution had given evidence to see how it looked for him and if it didn’t look like there was a very good chance of him walking out, he would admit that he sent those messages,” said Heydari.

“I remember putting it to him that it wasn’t right someone else getting blamed for this.

“He said he understood this. I told him to go away and think about it.

“I think it was later that night he said ‘I’ve thought about it and I definitely want to wait until after the prosecution.’

“I said to him ‘If it looks like you’re going to walk out of here, I wouldn’t expect you to own up to it. It’s a big thing to do.’”

Heydari later added: “He said he told his solicitor before his first interview in the police station that he organised this [stabbing], he was responsible, he gave Gochman the knife and he paid Gochman £5,000.”

Heydari said he advised his friend that he would have to change his legal team if that was not now his case.

Jameson had claimed in his evidence that there was a “power dynamic” between he and Heydari, who supplied him with drugs for dealing.

And he said while the two were on remand for months in a cell together, Heydari had read Jameson’s evidence and case papers and pressured him into changing his statement.

Jameson claimed they had gone from good friends to enemies and their time celled together was “absolutely horrible”.

Heydari dismissed that in court, saying that the only thing they fell out over was Jameson’s messiness and his friend could have requested a cell move if he wanted.

He added that the only time they weren’t in the same cell was when they were moved from HMP Leicester to HMP Nottingham just before the start of the trial in January.

“He had asked when we left Leicester not to put in the same cell in Nottingham. Just before leaving Leicester he said he was happy to make those [messages] admissions on the first day in court.

“After maybe five days of court I got the feeling he probably wasn’t going to. Then I realised he’d probably asked to be kept separate because he wasn’t going to go through with what he said he was going to go through with.”

Mr Karim Khalil, representing Jameson, opened his cross-examination of Heydari by saying: “I’m going to suggest to you that the whole tranche of your evidence is a pack of lies.”

Mr Khalil went through Heydari’s first interview with police, conducted at around 10pm on May 28, the day Mr Davies died in hospital.

Heydari and Jameson had been arrested at gunpoint at Jameson’s house around lunchtime on suspicion of murder.

Heydari accepted that much of what he said in that first interview was lies.

“I didn’t want to point the finger at my friend,” he said.

“Why did you lie to the police about things that were not related to Joe?” asked Mr Khalil.

“At this point, I didn’t think I had responsibility for what happened and didn’t want to be involved. I wanted to distance myself from the case,” the defendant replied.

He added: “Almost everything in that first interview was not true to some extent.

“I was really trying to tell them what they wanted to hear without giving them information.”

Mr Khalil challenged Heydari on why he had refused to supply the PIN for his phone to police, suggesting that it was because there were incriminating messages from the day Mr Davies was fatally stabbed.

He said: “I thought I had a fair and real explanation for those messages.”

Heydari claimed he was “as concerned or more concerned” about police finding his drug dealing messages on his phone.

All seven defendants face one count of murder, which they all deny.

They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens.

A 17-year-old boy cannot be legally identified due to his age.

Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.

The trial continues.

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