Trial of teenager accused of murder reaches third day in Brighton

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she heard one of her friends say: "I have a knife with me."

She told a jury one of the boys she heard discussing the knife was the 17-year-old in the dock.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Charlie Cosser, also 17, at the end-of-term party in Warnham near Horsham on July 22 last year.

Charlie Cosser was fatally stabbed (Image: Sussex Police)

The girl said despite the loud music she heard the defendant and another boy talking about having a knife with them.

"It pricked my ears because it's a very harsh sentence to hear," the girl said.

Minutes later she saw Charlie lying on the ground covered in blood.

Visibly upset, the girl said: "I said to the man standing next to him that he needed to hold his wounds down."

Lewes Crown Court sitting in Brighton heard Charlie - known as Cheeks - was stabbed during an eruption of violence on the dance floor at the party.

Other guests described a brawl involving four or five boys seconds before midnight.

Charlie, from Milford, Surrey, was stabbed three times and died three days later at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Witnesses said at least four boys were involved in the brawl after rumours spread around the party about one of the guests.

On Monday the court heard allegations the defendant had been inappropriate with a young girl at the party.

The jury was told violence started after Charlie asked the defendant to leave.

Another guest, Harriet West told the jury she saw a boy on the ground after guests were asked to leave the party marquee.

The scene in Warnham, near Horsham, last year (Image: Supplied)

Ms West said she looked at her phone at 12.18am on July 23 after hearing an announcement saying there had been an incident and police were on their way.

• READ MORE: Party goer had 'no idea' she filmed fight

"We knew there were police coming and I had to leave by the road. There was the man in the hi-vis and the boy on the floor. I saw he didn't have a T-shirt on and he had blood all over his chest.

"I just walked away instantly," she said.

Another guest described how she happened to film the moment Charlie was fatally injured.

Megan Roberts said she drove herself to the party after being invited by one of the hosts through a WhatsApp group.

Ms Roberts said she got out her phone to film her friends dancing to the Britney Spears song Toxic.

"It was dark, cold and raining when I got there. I had work the next day, so I wasn't planning on staying late," she said.

"We were aware there were a lot of very young people there. I liked the song that was playing, so I took my phone out. I had no idea what I was about to catch on film."

The jury was again shown her mobile phone clip.

"I was just filming my friendship group,” Ms Roberts told the court.

"I was filming as I was moving round, you can see my friend moving away a bit and then you can hear me saying ‘Oh’.

"Then my phone moves down because I was paying more attention in real life.

"By the time I'd stopped filming, there was one person on top of another person, like strangling him a lot.

"They were moving around a lot. I was trying to make sure my friends were safe."

Ms Roberts said there were several people fighting.

"My friend and at least three other people jumped in and pulled him off him," she said.

As she was organising her friends to leave in her car, Ms Roberts said she could see somebody lying in the grass near the marquee.

"It was very quick, I was just trying to get my friends out of there.

"It was very chaotic.

"I'd been told something had happened, but I didn't really believe something like that could have happened."

The defendant, from Chessington in Surrey, wearing a blue shirt and glasses, was supported on the third day of his trial by his father. 

The boy, who denies murder, was only 16 when he attended the end-of-term party.

The jury heard at least 100 people attended the party and were crowded under a marquee as summer rain lashed down.

The defendant gave a no comment interview and the court heard the knife used to stab Charlie has never been found.

The trial continues.