Gypsy Queen: Sister accused Sheffield murder suspect of stabbing her fatally-injured brother Macaulay Byrne

A Sheffield Crown Court trial has heard how Bovic Mupolo, aged 22, of Fleury Rise, Gleadless, Sheffield, has denied murdering Macaulay Byrne following an alleged ‘fight’ involving him and Mr Byrne outside the Gypsy Queen pub, Beighton.

Mr Byrne’s sister Carys Byrne told jurors on November 15 that she had gone to the pub on Drake House Lane on Boxing Day, last year, after receiving a phone call from a woman saying her brother had been stabbed.

Ms Byrne revealed she knew Mr Mupolo because he was a friend of her ex-partner’s and she phoned him and accused him of stabbing her brother.

She told the court: “I said, ‘You have just stabbed my brother’. He told me he was at home in bed. I told him he was a liar and he put the phone down on me.”

Prosecuting barrister John Harrison KC previously claimed Mr Mupolo pushed Mr Byrne outside during an argument at the pub and they were allegedly involved in a fight that spilled into the car park. Mr Harrison added that during the incident Mr Mupolo’s 25-year-old friend Layton Morris had also allegedly been involved in another fight with others.

Following the stabbing, Ms Byrne told the court she had repeatedly called and texted Mr Mupolo and he messaged her asking if he could call her later. He stated he was at home in bed, told her to stop ringing him and that he could not understand why she was phoning.

Defence barrister Nicholas Rhodes confirmed with Ms Byrne that Mr Mupolo had also told her he had not stabbed anybody.

A friend of Mr Byrne, Trevor Hector, told the court he had noticed an argument outside the pub involving a ‘bunch of people’ before his father called him inside.

Mr Hector said: “My father asked me to come inside and that’s when I realised something had happened. I was not too sure but you could see blood on the fridge behind the bar. I was not sure what had happened so I did not jump to any conclusions.”

A further friend of Mr Byrne, Georgia Stocks, told the court that everybody ran outside and there was shouting before she saw Macaulay Byrne coming back into the pub.

Ms Stocks said: “He was not shouting. He was trying to say he had been stabbed.”

She added that Mr Mupolo and Mr Morris told her they had ‘not done it’ before they fled when Mr Byrne’s brother turned up.

Mr Harrison, prosecuting, said Mr Mupolo and Mr Morris allegedly took a taxi to Swinton and changed clothes at Mr Morris’ address before going to the Masons Arms pub in Wickersley, Rotherham, and then to Sheffield’s Crystal Bar and Viper Rooms.

Mr Mupolo has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Macaulay Byrne; and Layton Morris, of Sidney Street, Swinton, near Mexborough, Rotherham, has pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender.

The court heard Mr Mupolo and Mr Morris both answered ‘no comment’ to police questions. Mr Mupolo is expected to claim he had been defending himself and Mr Morris is expected to claim he had no knowledge of the stabbing.

The trial continues.