A MIDDLEWICH teenager walked free from court on Thursday when he was found not guilty of stabbing a man in the back.

The jury at Knutsford Crown Court took less than two-and-a-half hours to find Russell James Barclay, of Moss Drive, not guilty of wounding Jonathan Robert Curry with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial began on Monday, October 11, when the court heard that Curry was left with a 3.5in-deep stab wound after a fight in Kitfield Avenue in the early hours of January 6, but the 18-year-old denied the charge.

In his summing up, Recorder John Philpotts said: "Barclay has no previous convictions and is a young man of good character.

"The fact that he is of good character may mean that he is less likely than otherwise to commit this crime."

The court heard that Barclay was a trainee chef at the Warmingham Grange restaurant when the incident happened.

He had finished work on the night of January 5 when he started to receive telephone calls from Curry, who had been out with his girlfriend, Rebecca Dukes, an ex-girlfriend of Barclay's, and two other friends.

In his evidence, Barclay said Curry was verbally abusive towards him and, at one point, was outside his mother's house saying he should speak to her while he could.

The court heard that Barclay arrived at the house of his half brother, Ian Tunstall, in Kitfield Avenue, where a scuffle had already started between Curry and Tunstall. It was alleged that Barclay came up behind Curry and stabbed him, but Barclay claimed he was in a car for most of the fight and had only got out to shout abuse in retaliation to verbal abuse from Curry and his friends.

He said: "I did not get within an arm's reach of Curry."

gbebbington@guardiangrp.co.uk