Sheffield man stabbed to death in street tried to defend girl shortly before fight broke out, jury told

Reece Radford was just 26-years-old when he suffered a deadly stab wound through the chest and heart, during an altercation that took place on Arundel Gate in Sheffield city centre in the early hours of Thursday, September 29, 2022. He died in hospital five days later, on October 4, 2022.

Louis James, 47, of Manor Lane, Sheffield, and Dereck Owusu, 39, of Strathmore Grove, Wath-upon-Dearne, near Rotherham, were subsequently charged with Mr Radford’s murder. Both men are currently on trial at Sheffield Crown Court, after entering not guilty pleas to the charge.

Video interview with eye-witness

In a video interview with the police shown to the jury on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Mr Radford’s friend, Paul Taylor, said he was with Mr Radford during his final hours, spending time in pubs and bars in Hillsborough and Sheffield city centre; and also tried to intervene after a ‘scuffle’ broke out between Mr Radford and ‘two black males’ that prosecutors allege were Mr Owusu and Mr James.

Mr Taylor said the two males were sat at a bus stop on Arundel Gate – near to the 24-hour Select and Save shop where acquaintances of Mr Radford and Mr Taylor had gone to buy cigarettes – and said he witnessed Mr Radford saying ‘alright’ to them.

“There was a girl, she was only 17,” Mr Taylor said, adding that he and Mr Radford had seen, and been talking to, the girl earlier on in the evening.

“She went to the bus stop to talk to them [the two males], and one of them pushed her over, on to her a*** for no reason,” Mr Taylor said, and when asked, told police he could not hear what the girl said to the two males.

Mr Taylor continued: “Reece said something to them…just said: ‘What are you doing pushing a girl over’. He [one of the males] got in Reece’s face.”

This, said Mr Taylor, led to the first of two ‘scuffles’ involving Mr Radford and the two males breaking out near to the bus stop.

One of the police officers conducting the interview asked Mr Taylor if he saw ‘who struck the first blow,’ to which Mr Taylor responded: “No.”

Mr Taylor proceeded to tell police that the male who ‘got in Reece’s face’ was not the same male as the one who ‘pushed’ the girl.

“They kept coming at Reece…the one with the beard kept coming at Reece…Reece was protecting himself,” Mr Taylor said, adding that the first scuffle then ‘just stopped’ and then ‘went from there to the middle of the road,’ where the fighting continued.

Mr Taylor continued: “I saw Reece on the floor. I said: ‘Don’t kick him [Mr Radford] in the head’. I kicked the one [of the two males] with the beard, and then the other one – I had to push him off him.”

“They [the two males] went back to the bus stop, and we went across the road, and that’s when Reece said: ‘I’ve been stabbed,’ and as soon as I heard that, I rang 999,” Mr Taylor said.

The jury of eight women and four men were read statements from police officers and paramedics who were dispatched to the scene, and worked to save Mr Radford’s life. Mr Radford was subsequently rushed to hospital, and was pronounced dead five days later on October 4, 2022.

Mr Taylor told police he did not see anyone use a weapon at any point, and also did not see Mr Radford being stabbed, the court heard.

“It all happened that fast,” Mr Taylor said, before estimating the length of the incident to be between ‘two and three minutes at the most’.

Cross-examination

Mr Taylor gave live evidence for his cross-examination from barristers representing Mr James and Mr Owusu. Prosecuting barrister, David Temkin KC, did not ask Mr Taylor any questions.

Katherine Lumsdon KC, representing Mr Owusu, asked Mr Taylor: “When the black man pushed the girl over, did you see the girl punching the black man?”

“No,” responded Mr Taylor.

Ms Lumsdon continued: “Did you hear Reece say to the girl: ‘Are you s**gging those black b******s?’”

Mr Taylor replied: “No.”

Defending Mr James, Stephen Wood KC, asked Mr Taylor about Mr Radford’s ‘behaviour’ during time the pair spent in the Rawson Spring Wetherspoons pub on Langsett Road in Hillsborough, Sheffield, before heading into the city centre where the fatal stabbing took place.

Mr Wood said: “Is it the case, Mr Taylor, that Reece had been causing trouble in the early hours of Thursday, and on Wednesday evening [September 29 and 28, 2022, respectively]?”

“No,” replied Mr Taylor.

When asked about how ‘drunk’ Mr Radford appeared to be while at The Rawson Spring, Mr Taylor said he did not seem ‘drunk’ and instead described him as being ‘tipsy’. He said he observed Mr Radford drinking lager, and not ‘shots of vodka,’ as Mr Wood suggested.

Mr Wood showed the jury CCTV footage of incidents involving Mr Radford, both inside and outside the Rawson Spring during his visit there with Mr Taylor. The incident outside the pub involved a physical altercation between Mr Radford and a man described by Mr Wood as ‘homeless’; while the one inside pertained to a female member of staff and a female customer who, Mr Wood suggested, had her hand ‘slapped away’ by Mr Radford.

When asked how Mr Radford was ‘behaving’ when he came back inside the Rawson Spring after the incident outside, and before his interactions with the two females inside, Mr Taylor said: “He seemed calm to me.”

Mr Wood said to Mr Taylor: “The impression you were trying to give the jury was that he [Mr Radford] only got involved on Arundel Gate because he was protecting a female.”

Mr Taylor responded: “He was while I was there.”

Mr Owusu and Mr James deny murdering Mr Radford. The trial continues.