Mum denies trying to 'cover up' alleged murder scene
23.02.2024 - 06:55
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A mum denied trying to 'cover up' an alleged murder by cleaning up the scene, a trial has heard. Callum Riley, 17, was stabbed to death at a house on Heywood’s Darnhill estate. Three men are on trial at Manchester Crown Court, accused of his murder. Tony Adams, 34, Dale Heywood, 26, and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all pleaded not guilty.
Mr Adams’ partner Michelle Conaghan, 35, who is also on trial accused of assisting an offender, said she had cleaned up glass and blood from her front door but had no intention to ‘cover up what had happened’. Prosecutors allege that Mr Riley and a friend had turned up at Mr Adams' family home on Atholl Drive in Heywood, armed with glass bottles after being deliberately provoked. The pair were both stabbed during the incident.
Mr Adams had allegedly 'assembled a crew of men' to attend Mr Riley's home in Heywood earlier that night, where windows were smashed just after midnight on September 17, 2022. Jurors have heard that around a year before the alleged murder, Mr Riley had owed Mr Adams £180 for cannabis.
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Ms Conaghan said she had been out in Heywood drinking with friends before returning home in the early hours of September 17. She said she went to bed and was later woken up by the ‘slamming’ of a gate.
Around half an hour later she heard a ‘smashing’ sound and went downstairs, jurors heard. Ms Conaghan said she saw one man ‘trying to barge in’ to the house, with her partner Mr Adams ‘being dragged by his hood’.
“I just remember kicking and screaming and trying to get them off his hood,” she said. Ms Conaghan said Mr Adams left and that she followed him, shouting for him to ‘come