A TEENAGER accused of murder talked of “getting it knocked down to manslaughter” in conversations taped by police.

The 17-year-old, who denies fatally stabbing Blayne Ridgway in Oxford city centre, had his calls recorded in a young offenders’ institution while he awaited trial.

Father-of-one Mr Ridgway, 22, died in hospital after being attacked outside Que Pasa in Queen Street on May 8.

On the sixth day of evidence yesterday, jurors were played recordings of two calls made by the defendant from HMP Ashfield near Bristol on May 12 and May 18.

During the first call, a friend of the defendant is heard to say: “Try to get it down to manslaughter, play it smart.”

The defendant responds: “I hear that, blud (mate). I hear that, fam (mate).”

In the second call, in which the defendant speaks to his mother, who passes the phone on to other men, the teenager is heard to say: “The case ain’t even that strong. I might get it knocked down to manslaughter, blud.”

Jurors were shown photographs of the warning signs pinned close to the telephones in HMP Ashfield, alerting inmates to the fact their calls are monitored and could be recorded.

Det Sgt David Herniman, the officer in the case, told the court the defendant was arrested two hours after the stabbing incident.

He was interviewed five times between 6pm on May 8 and 3.45pm on May 9 before being charged with murder at 4.36pm that day.

He said the teenager made no comment in every interview, but when charged responded “not guilty”.

Nicholas Rhodes, cross-examining for the defence, asked Det Sgt Herniman: “Did police recover a weapon likely to be the murder weapon?”

“Not likely to be the murder weapon, no,” came the reply.

Mr Rhodes continued: “The DNA samples and materials taken from the deceased were compared with the DNA of the defendant to see if there was any correlation between the two?”

Det Sgt Herniman said: “Yes.”

Mr Rhodes responded: “And there was none?”

“Correct,” came the answer.

Det Sgt Herniman also confirmed there were no matches for Mr Ridgway’s DNA on the defendant’s clothing.

Earlier in the day other witnesses told jurors what they saw at Que Pasa.

Lisa Serrano said she heard Mr Ridgway react to being attacked. She said: “He said ‘yeah, you’ve stabbed me and I’m still standing, and what? And what?’ He kept repeating the phrase ‘and what?’.”

She added: “I saw the young man who was standing in front of him reach out and take a chain that was around the neck of the young man who was bleeding.”

The trial continues.