A woman accused of driving her teenage son and three of his friends around the streets of south-east London so they could carry out a murderous knife attack on a 17-year-old boy has admitted her first statement to police was a “pack of lies”.
Nichola Leighton, 36, her son, Tyreese Ulysses, 19, and three juveniles deny murdering Levi-Ernest Morrison on 10 April.
Last month, when the trial began, prosecutor Bill Emlyn-Jones, QC, said Leighton drove her son and his friends in her red Suzuki jeep around the streets of Sydenham looking for Levi and his friends, who had been knocking on her door earlier in the day.
Jury Heard 999 Call
Mr Emlyn-Jones said she was furious and in a 999 call she made she can be heard saying: “If they come back I will batter them.”
The 999 operator warned her against taking the law into her own hands and reminded her the phone call is being recorded.
But Leighton went on to say: “I’m not going to back down” and the prosecution claims she called Tyreese and he “rallied the troops” who came to her house and went out looking for Levi’s group.
Leighton went into the witness box at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, 2 November, and admitted she had told “lies” to protect her son but insisted she was innocent.
Leighton told the jury she took her dog in the car for a walk in a nearby park and then gave the boys a lift to Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Cross Examined By Co-Defendant's Lawyer
Chris Henley, counsel for one of the younger defendants, accused her of lying in the witness box.
He asked her about her first statement to police in which she denied her son, Tyreece, was the front seat passenger in her Suzuki on the day of the murder.
Cross examining her, Mr Henley said: “Your statement was a lie…but you wanted the officers to believe that?”
Leighton replied: “Yes. I didn’t want my son involved. I never denied I was driving my car but I wasn’t giving up my son. I could’ve said I wasn’t driving my car. It wasn’t registered to me so I could’ve said that.”
At one point, after she was asked about whether the four boys had come into her home on the day of the murder Leighton told Mr Henley: “You’re reaching. No. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know why I should entertain such stupid questions.”
Mr Henley said there was “precious little” she would say to taint his client and protect her son.
Leighton replied: “I’m not protecting anybody. We don’t know what happened at the end of the road. At the end of the day it’s about Levi’s mum finding out the truth.”
Leighton, Ulysses and the other three deny murder and Leighton and one of the younger defendants deny possession of offensive weapons.