An Ipswich delivery driver accused of murdering Tavis Spencer-Aitkens has told a court he was asked by one of his co-defendants to “give him and his boys” a lift to the Nacton area on the day of the fatal attack.
Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court, Leon Glasgow, who is accused of driving Tavis’s alleged killers to Packard Avenue where the fatal stabbing took place, said he had been planning to watch the England v Nigeria football game on the afternoon of June 2 but had received a telephone call from Adebayo Amusa asking for a lift.
Glasgow said he had bought cocaine from Amusa four or five times a week and was surprised to get a call from him on June 2 as he was the one who usually contacted him.
He said Amusa asked him to “give him and his boys to Nacton and back” and hadn’t specified how many people that would be.
Glasgow said that during a discussion about payment Amusa offered to give him £20 worth of cocaine and £10 cash.
He arranged to meet Amusa at Alderman Park and said he wanted £30 cash and £20 of cocaine and Amusa had agreed.
He said he had been staying with a work colleague in Elm Road, Kesgrave, and had taken his colleague’s delivery van rather than his own because it was cleaner and easier to take because of where it was parked.
He said he got the keys from inside the house and said it was the first time he had driven his colleague’s van without asking.
He said he had known the van had a tracking device since he started working for the delivery company that employed him and his colleague.
He said that when he got to Alderman Park Amusa, a man he knew as “M” and 20-year-old Aristote Yenge, who he hadn’t met before, walked over to the van.
Yenge and “M” got into the front of the van and Amusa had given him some drugs.
He said Amusa had then gone to the back of the van and he then heard the side door of the van open.
Glasgow said he heard two or three voices in the back of the van but couldn’t hear what was being said.
He said Amusa had then “sprung it on him” that he wanted to go to Chantry before going to Nacton but didn’t say why he needed to go there first.
During his evidence Glasgow, who has lived in Ipswich since 2008, admitted having a long criminal record dating back to 1995, including offences of robbery.
He said he had been released from a 90 month prison sentence for robbery in March last year and started using drugs at the end of April.
In the dock with Glasgow, 42, of no fixed address, are Adebayo Amusa, 20, of Sovereign Road, Barking, Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, Isaac Calver, 19, of Firmin Close, Ipswich, and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age. They all deny murdering 17-year-old Tavis who was fatally stabbed in Packard Avenue on June 2.
It has been alleged the attack on Tavis was the result of rivalry between the two 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.
The trial continues.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here