Sam Davies murder trial: Prosecution case is ‘deceptive’, says defence barrister

The prosecution’s case against one of the principal defendants is “simple and deceptive”, the Sam Davies murder trial has been told.

Karim Khalil QC rounded on the evidence presented against his client, Joe Jameson, who is accused of murder and making threats to kill Mr Davies.

He is the only one of the seven Lincoln defendants to face both indictments. The others are accused of murder alone. All the defendants deny the matters.

In his closing speech, Mr Khalil began by saying: “Members of the jury, the case for the prosecution is deceptively simple. It is simple and it is deceptive.

“Simple because the prosecution claims these defendants were all in it together, ‘it’ being the one single plan they’ve placed before you. But you know that isn’t right.

“Deceptive because it in fact deceives. It has actually deceived from the outset.

“But it’s been delivered with assurance and confidence and that’s disguised the troubles at the heart of the prosecution.”

Mr Khalil said the role of Charlotte Poole presented by the prosecution was one of the “darkest” deceptions.

“It was very simple, said the Crown,” Mr Khalil told the jury. “Sam Davies stole her laptop and belongings, Charlotte Poole learned about it, as did Daniel Heydari. There was the motive for the attack.

“Daniel Heydari and Joe Jameson are shown to have acted together. There they are in concert.

“What could be simpler? Both guilty of murder and if you need a motive we, the prosecution, have provided it.”

Mr Khalil reminded the jury that Mr Davies did steal the laptop but neither Miss Poole nor Heydari were ever told or had found out.

“So [the prosecution’s] suggestion that there is a simple explanation falls away in its entirety,” said the barrister.

Mr Khalil accused the prosecution of making light of the “red herring” as if it didn’t matter at all but, he said, it had come in the presentation of a murder trial.

Meanwhile, Mr Khalil said Jameson had been used as a “scapegoat”.

He said Gochman and Heydari had served their defence case statements “at the very last moment”, after the trial had started and within 24 hours of each other.

“Most of the prosecution case that really affected them had been heard.

“Daniel Heydari had been sitting alongside Billy Gill. Billy Gill had been sharing a cell with Charlie Wakefield, the so-called blabbermouth.

“And Charlie Wakefield had been sitting alongside Eimantas Gochman in [another courtroom, following via video link].

“Charlie Wakefield, from the beginning, had been willing to provide a false alibi for his mate, Eimantas Gochman.”

Mr Khalil said the jury had seen interactions between defendants in the dock and that Jameson had been “isolated” in the corner and “kept out of any of the discussions and chatter”.

Mr Khalil then listed seven “coincidences” which had arisen from the subsequent cases presented by Heydari and Gochman.

“They coincidentally chose Joe Jameson to be their scapegoat. Coincidences happen but when you add these together the word coincidence falls well short of what has gone on here,” added the barrister.

He went on to highlight to the jury that Heydari’s behaviour towards Jameson in the prison cell waiting room demonstrated “machismo on the one part, anxiety on the other”.

“The prosecution said Joe Jameson clearly was telling the truth about the power dynamic between himself and Heydari. There on video was evidence of Heydari manipulating or trying to manipulate Joe Jameson, just as Joe Jameson said to you in his evidence,” said Mr Khalil.

“You might not have been convinced when Mr Jameson said that because he’s a man fighting for his life. But then when you watch that, you’re nudged over the line.”

And Mr Khalil poured scorn on Heydari’s evidence that Jameson had sent someone “dipped up” (stabbed) messages to Billy Gill from Heydari’s phone.

Mr Khalil said: “He knows that this puts him in a bit of a bind. He has to explain how come all these dipping messages are sent back and forth between him and Billy Gill.

“So he says ‘they weren’t sent by me but Joe Jameson using my phone’.

“Daniel Heydari’s entire drug dealing world is on that phone and he hands it to Joe Jameson? I don’t think so.

“He’d been using his phone throughout the day before, he continued to use it throughout the day afterwards but just for these minutes when the serious stuff goes on he hands it to Joe Jameson?”

Mr Khalil also told the jury that Jameson did not give Gochman the knife used in the stabbing and underlined that no DNA from Jameson had been found on the weapon.

“He’s either a forensic cleaner or it’s a miracle and he’s the luckiest man in the world,” concluded the barrister.

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

They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; 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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