A 20-year-old drug dealer accused of murdering Ipswich teenager Tavis Spencer-Aitkens has denied being a gang member.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court Adebayo Amusa said he had nothing to do with the J-Block gang from the Jubilee Park area of the town or the rival Neno gang from the Nacton area.

Amusa told the court he came to Ipswich to sell heroin and crack cocaine and dealt drugs all over the town.

He said he was told about J- Block gang by drug users but wasn’t a member and there were no pictures of him doing J Block hand gestures.

He said he first came to Ipswich in about April 2018 and had been arrested at a flat in Great Gipping Street in the town for being concerned in the supply of drugs in July 2018.

In court with Amusa, of Sovereign Road, Barking, are Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, Isaac Calver, 19, of Firmin Close, Ipswich, Leon Glasgow, 42, of no fixed address and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age.

They all deny murdering Tavis, of Pownall Road, Ipswich, in Packard Avenue shortly before 5pm on June 2 last year.

It has been alleged the attack on Tavis was the result of rivalry between the J-Block and Neno gangs for what J-Block perceived to be a loss of respect following a row between the 16-year-old defendant and Yenge and two of Tavis’s friends during a confrontation in Ipswich town centre.

During his evidence Amusa said he was introduced to the 16-year-old defendant when he wanted to buy cannabis and he had put him in touch with someone else.

He said although he used cannabis he didn’t use class A drugs.

He said that when he and his three business partners, in what was known as the “K” business, came to Ipswich they slept at the homes of drug users.

He said he had visited the Nacton area of Ipswich because the girlfriend of one of his business partners lived there and he had also on occasions delivered drugs to customers in the area.

He said he met Yenge about a month before Tavis’s death and would meet him three or four times a week to buy cannabis from him.

Amusa said he met Calver through the 16-year-old defendant and had met Glasgow two months before Tavis’s death.

He said Glasgow would buy drugs from him and he would see him five or six times a week.

He said he would sometimes get a lift from Glasgow in exchange for drugs.

The trial continues.