A Barton drug dealer murdered his customer in a rage that he’d been ‘chatting s**t’ about his wares, a jury heard.
Lewis Brown, 20, is said to have plunged a hunting knife into 39-year-old Lee Butler’s chest after accusing him of ‘trying to boy me off’.
Just moments earlier, Brown was said to have pulled out the knife and threatened: "Do you want me to juck [stab] you, bruv?"
Jurors at Oxford Crown Court, where Brown is standing trial accused of Mr Butler’s murder, heard that the older man bled to death at the scene while his alleged killer fled.
A post-mortem later found that the knife pierced Mr Butler’s lung and cut his aorta, the artery pumping blood from the heart. The fatal wound was 14cm deep.
READ MORE: Live updates from day two of Barton 'murder' trial
'Quality of drugs'
Opening the case for the prosecution yesterday morning, Charles Ward-Jackson said: “In a sentence the prosecution say this case is about a man who was stabbed to death by his drug dealer in a dispute about the quality of the dealer's drugs.”
Mr Butler was said to have been a regular user of heroin and crack cocaine.
At the time of his death, on October 8 last year, there was concern among drug addicts about a batch of contaminated heroin – linked to three fatal overdoses in the Oxford area alone.
Brown, known by his street names ‘Ginge’ or ‘Rex’, was said by prosecutors to have run his own drugs line in Barton. The line was called ‘Bob’, short for drugs slang ‘best of both’.
He had a reputation for cutting down his drugs, Mr Ward-Jackson said.
Day of 'murder'
On the afternoon of October 8, ‘victim’ Lee Butler was said to have been with friend Donna Osbourne when they arranged to buy crack cocaine from Brown’s Bob line.
Ms Osbourne alleged warned Brown she didn't want any 's**t stuff', which Mr Ward-Jackson said was 'an apparent reference to Mr Brown's alleged reputation for cutting his drugs'.
They arranged to meet Brown in the park near Bayswater Road, Barton, calling him when they reached the green space after 5.40pm.
Mr Ward-Jackson said, according to Ms Osbourne, Brown was in a bad mood. "He asked her why Lee had been as he put it 'chatting s**t about his stuff',” the prosecutor said.
"In other words, the defendant had got it into his head that Lee Butler had been bad mouthing his - that is Mr Brown's - drugs and as I've already suggested to you that was a very serious suggestion because it would be bad for his business."
He pulled out a hunting knife and threatened to ‘juck’ – or stab – them. He did not carry out the threat, instead passing Ms Osbourne a wrap of crack cocaine from his mouth, it was said.
She paid him for the cocaine and turned to leave. Brown allegedly accused Mr Butler of ‘trying to boy me off’ before stabbing him in the chest, it was alleged.
Despite the efforts of passers-by and paramedics, Mr Butler died at the scene. He was pronounced dead at 6.41pm.
After the killing
By the time Mr Butler was pronounced dead, murder-accused Brown was said by prosecutors to be long gone.
Shortly after the stabbing, said to have taken place at 5.50pm, the knifeman allegedly returned to the flat of addict Colin Sumner in Stowford Road, Barton, where he changed his clothes.
Before 6pm, CCTV picked him up carrying a JD Sports plastic bag.
Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson noted that he was wearing a different jacket, describing him as the ‘master of disguise’.
He walked to Risinghurst Post Office, where he bought two packets of Rizla cigarette papers and a bottle of Magnum tonic wine.
Brown re-traced his steps and got on the number eight bus near Headington roundabout.
The alleged killer was said to have taken a keen interest as the bus drove past where 999 crews were working on Mr Butler.
He changed phones, receiving a number of calls from friends Abu Bakkar and Tanisha Mapes.
After alighting from the bus at Oxford Brookes’ Headington Road campus, he took a taxi to Pether Road, Wood Farm, then got another taxi back to Barton.
At 9.30pm he knocked at friend Kayleigh Kimber-Johnson’s door in Hengrove Close. He appeared nervous, jumping up to look out the window, Mr Ward-Jackson told the jury.
Told by Ms Kimber-Johnson that Mr Butler had died, Brown was said to have replied: “I only stabbed him once. How did he die from that?”
In the early hours of the following morning he was caught after police chased him through back gardens.
Arrested and cautioned, he replied: “Why have I been arrested? What murder? Murder? Where?” He also asked if anyone else was under suspicion, jurors heard.
Brown, of Barton Village Road, Oxford, denies murder and possession of a knife. The trial continues
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