A murder suspect said he wouldn't name a killer gunman on an electric bike - but it wasn't him or his friend.
Ben Doyle is accused of being "complicit" in the shooting of Patrick Boyle in a Huyton cul-de-sac last summer. Prosecutors allege Rueben Murphy carried out the "public execution" on an electric bike.
Murphy, 26, denies shooting Mr Boyle. He says at the time he was in a back garden in another part of Huyton, "off me head on ket".
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Murphy allegedly shot the 26-year-old twice in Newway, off Lordens Road, on July 1. Prosecutors say Lyme Grove, where Murphy's friend Doyle lived, was "a hub for the launch of the fatal attack".
Doyle today admitted riding the electric bike 10 minutes before the shooting, just before 6pm. But the 24-year-old told Liverpool Crown Court he then handed it over to its owner - a man he wouldn't name out of fear of "retribution".
Under questioning by John Jones, QC, defending, unemployed Doyle said he was on benefits, but made money from fixing, buying and selling off road bikes. Doyle said he was woken up by a "commotion" outside his mum's house at 12.40pm.
Murphy has said this was him arguing with Frazer Brown, an associate of Mr Boyle, who owed him money over an old cannabis debt. Murphy says Mr Brown chased him with a fence panel. Doyle today said he didn't know what the argument was about, but told "everyone to go away".
He said a passing friend then said a man needed his electric bike fixing, because the chain kept coming off and a wheel needed aligning. He said he agreed to do this and collected the blue and white Sur-Ron bike from its owner in a nearby garden.
Doyle said he wouldn't name the bike owner or give any information that could lead to his identification "due to retribution or anything like that to me mother's address". Mr Jones said: "What is it you're frightened he might do?" Doyle said it was a murder case and "anything could happen".
Doyle accepted CCTV showed him riding the Sur-Ron and doing a wheelie in Lyme Grove at 1.51pm "to see how it was handling". He said he fixed it in the back garden of a home two houses down from his, which the owners let him do.
Doyle said he left the bike, which he hadn't noticed had anything wrapped around its frame, in that garden. Prosecutors allege Doyle, masked and in dark clothing, left on the bike, now wrapped in black bin bags, at 2.12pm.
They say he rode to Pennard Avenue, then returned at 2.30pm. Doyle said he was unaware at that stage the bike had been taken anywhere and it was "the owner of the bike, not me nor Mr Murphy".
Doyle said between 2pm and 5pm he was at home, on his mobile phone cell sited in that area, before Murphy came around and did "ket" in the back garden of an "empty house" next door. He said later they both went to a shop to get "skins and drinks".
Doyle said after they returned home, he told Murphy he was going to get some "weed", at around 5.30pm. He said he collected this from a man he wouldn't name in Hathersage Road, then returned at 5.34pm.
Mr Jones said CCTV footage from 5.40pm showed Doyle riding the Sur-Ron bike to Pennard Avenue. Doyle said he had borrowed cannabis from a friend in Butleigh Road the day beforehand, so was returning cannabis to this person, who he wouldn't name.
Doyle said he shouted to Murphy that he was leaving, then saw the bike owner taking the Sur-Ron out of a shed. He said because he had cannabis on him, he asked the bike owner for a lift.
Doyle said the owner agreed but asked him to ride, because he didn't like going "two-up" on a bike. Doyle said he didn't notice if the bike looked different to when he last saw it.
Doyle said he now had his hood up and wore a mask because it was illegal to ride the bike on the road. Doyle said he was wearing a dark jacket because he previously borrowed it from another friend - a man who lived in Hillside Avenue who he wouldn't name - and was returning that too.
Doyle said he got off the bike on Pennard Avenue to walk to Butleigh Road. Mr Jones said: "This is 10 minutes before the shooting. Did you know a shooting was to occur?" Doyle said: "No, I was none the wiser."
The QC said: "Did you know that the man on the bike who had been sitting behind you was armed with a weapon? A pistol?" Doyle said: "No. I had no knowledge of anything like that, nor did I have anything spoken to me while he was on the back of the bike."
Doyle said he didn't know where the bike owner was going and that he rode off after giving him £30 for the repair. Mr Jones played CCTV footage of the bike leaving, with one person on it. He asked: "Is that you?" Doyle said: "No, not me, nor is it Mr Murphy."
Doyle said he dropped off the cannabis, then dropped off the jacket, before heading back to his mum's. Mr Jones said at 5.56pm, Mr Boyle was shot. Doyle said he didn't have "any idea".
He said he went back to Lyme Grove and was standing by a wall at 6.08pm, when he was surprised to see the bike owner pull up on the Sur-Ron and say: "Can I throw this bike in there? I've been on a chase."
Asked what he thought that meant, Doyle said: "That he had been chased by the bizzies, because you're not allowed to drive it on the road."
Doyle said CCTV showed him gesture with open arms because the owners of the house were "snotty" about him leaving bikes there. But he said the owner put the bike in the shed, then walked off.
Murphy, of Oak Avenue, Newton-le-Willows; and Doyle, of Lyme Grove; Huyton, deny murder, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life.
(Proceeding)
