Oliver Connelly, one of six men on trial for the murder of Jordan Hogg who was stabbed to death in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, told the jury he did not kill his friend
One of the men accused of murdering Jordan Hogg claimed he had a machete because he had slept with another man’s girlfriend. Oliver Connelly told a jury why he was brandishing the weapob when he knocked on Mr Hogg’s front door.
The 28-year-old said: “[I had] slept with another man’s girlfriend and obviously he had a problem with me”. Referring to CCTV footage showing him carrying the machete, Connelly clarified that he walks with a limp after being run over at the age of 15.
The jury viewed footage showing several of the accused entering Mr Hogg’s Hemlington flat shortly before the 28-year-old was fatally slashed across the neck and died metres from his front door.
Connelly insisted that he did not intend to use the machete, telling the court: “If anyone jumps out of car at me, I cannot run off.” He pointed to his ankle, which he says he cannot bend due to the accident.
Connelly told the court that he did not kill Mr Hogg and that they had known each other since school. “He was my friend,” Connelly said. “When I seen him, I’d stand and talk to him,” reports Teesside Live.
He testified that he had gone into Mr Hogg’s flat on Fonteyn Court that night to ask him to contact the family of the man who had stolen Sidney Bashford’s electric bike.
The prosecution allege that the six accused went to Mr Hogg’s flat to find the bike thief, who had ran off up a grass hill while they were chasing him in a white van minutes earlier.
Connelly, from Elmhurst Gardens in Middlesbrough, denies murder.
He is on trial alongside five others – Sidney Bashford, 29, of no fixed abode; Michael Charville, 43, also of no fixed abode; Ryan Moore, 22, of no fixed abode; Leon Palfreeman, 18, of no fixed abode; and a 17 year old lad who cannot be named due to legal reasons – all of whom deny murder.
Connelly claimed that after visiting Mr Hogg, he and some of the others planned to drive to the bike thief’s home to retrieve Bashford’s bike.
“You say you knocked on Mr Hogg’s door,” prosecution barrister Peter Glenser queried, referring to the CCTV footage.
“It’s not really knocking if you put the blade of a machete in the front door, is it?
“Did he answer the door and exclaim: ‘Ollie! Goodness. What are you doing with that massive machete, leaving a mark on my door?” the barrister continued. Connelly simply responded with a “no.”
“This was designed to be terrifying,” Mr Glenser suggested. “No,” Connelly replied.
Connelly informed the court that he had participated in “a threesome” with co-accused Sidney Bashford and a woman. He further stated that he carried a knife as he was “worried about jealous lovers”.
When questioned if he was very close to Bashford, Connelly confirmed he was but added that he’d had threesomes “with more than one friend”. The jury also learned that Connelly was hospitalised from prison after consuming a number of tablets.
“My head was all over,” he admitted. “Someone where I live had been murdered.
‘I’m still being charged with murder ‘cos I was there’.
The court heard a recorded conversation Connelly had with a female escort officer in the GEOAmey van. Connelly told the woman: “I didn’t murder him, but I was there when he got murdered…..I didn’t stab him.
“The knife I had on camera proves I didn’t, but I’m still being charged with murder ‘cos I was there”.
The recording from the van was played to the court. Connelly informed the escort officer that the “one who done it hasn’t been caught”.
He stated that Jordan Hogg was his friend: “It’s messed up. Completely ruined my life the bloody fat sod. Now he’s probably in America or somewhere”.
Connelly went on to say that he could “pay £1,000 for a fake passport” and that one of his co-accused was arrested at an airport. “You don’t catch a flight,” he said.
“You get a ferry from Scotland to Ireland, and from Ireland, you can catch a ferry to Europe.”
When questioned about the conversation in court, Connelly denied that he had been planning to escape the country. “I was off my rocker,” he told the jury.
“I was trying to chat her [the escort officer] up.
“My head’s a mess,” he added, “I’m sat in prison for something I haven’t done”.
The trial continues.