Alnwick stabbing trial: Updates from Newcastle Crown Court

Mr Mallaburn described how he thought he was going to be stabbed to death when the Fenwick brothers arrived at his house - he said with knives.

Facing questions from Brett Fenwick's defence barrister, Mr Mallaburn denied that he was abusive in his relationship with Louise Pearce.

Ms Mustard read out a text message apparently sent from Louise Pearce to Gareth Mallaburn on Christmas Eve:

'I was scared for my safety. You said you were going to upper cut me and strangle me and leave me alone.'

Mr Mallaburn said he would not do that because he is not a violent person.

Called to the witness box, Louise Pearce denied suggestions that Mr Mallaburn had attacked Brett Fenwick, first with the wood and then with a knife.

The case has been adjourned until 10.30am tomorrow.

That concludes today's evidence. 

Judge Penny Moreland has sent the jury home and the case was adjourned until 10.30am tomorrow morning.

Paramedic Wayne Mulcahy - who was first on the scene - is now giving evidence.

He told the court that Gareth Mallaburn suffered a laceration to his neck and needed to be rushed to a major trauma hospital.

Mr Mulcahy said: "He told us that there had been an alcercation at his house.

"Two men had been in the house who had attacked him with a knife. He said one of them had had an affair with his girlfriend."

Mr Mallaburn was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and handed over to doctors there.

Claire Miller said at one point she heard Louise Pearce 'screaming' and then saw her outside the house.

Prosecutor Mark Giuliani again said the court need not hear anything about what happened there, which relates to the attempted murder charge that Brett Fenwick has pleaded guilty to.

Answering questions from Blaine Fenwick's barrister Mark Styles, Ms Miller said she had seen a white male with glasses come out of the house twice to retrieve a dog, and also come to her house to ask her to call the police.

That concludes Claire Miller's evidence and she was asked to leave the court.

The court is now hearing from Claire Miller, a neighbour of Gareth Mallaburn and Louise Pearce at the time of the incident.

She and her kids were woken up by a loud banging and she went round to the house to complain.

Ms Miller said she called the police when the banging and shouting did not stop.

She said a man had twice gone out the front door to collect the couple's dog, which had escaped.

"And then it did quieten down for a little bit, and then it started up again."

Blaine Fenwick's defence barrister Mark Styles suggests that Blaine had not been involved in the incident.

He tells Louise Pearce: "Gareth was coming down with this piece of wood and Brett is going up and Blaine is staying back in the hallway with you."

Ms Pearce said: "No they both went up the stairs."

That concludes Ms Pearce's evidence and she is asked to leave court.

Answering questions from Brett Fenwick's defence barrister Lorraine Mustard, Louise Pearce described how Brett was her 'best friend' at the time.

She told the court how her partner Gareth Mallaburn told her that if she went out socialising on Boxing Day he was going to cause 'mayhem' for her.

Ms Mustard suggested that Mr Mallaburn came down the stairs on the night of the stabbing, holding a plank of wood.

Ms Pearce said: "I did not see him on the stairs."

Ms Mustard suggested that things had calmed down and all four gathered in the living room.

She said: "Things had calmed down until the point where Gareth pulls out what appears to be a knife and slashes out at Brett."

Ms Pearce said this was not the case.

Louise Pearce said the knock at the door was a neighbour complaining about the noise, threatening to call the police.

She said when she went back inside it appeared to have 'calmed down', the brothers said they were going and made their way downstairs with Gareth Mallaburn.

Believing it was over she went into the kitchen to get some water, but events took a turn for the worse.

"I just saw Gareth running out the back door and he said to run and phone the police."

Then Brett started attacking her, Ms Pearce said, crying in the dock.

"He just started punching. It was just with his fists and his knee at first and then he stabbed me in the arm."

She said that Brett Fenwick then went into the kitchen to look for knives.

Prosecutor Mark Giuliani said he would not ask questions about what happened to Ms Pearce outside the front door - where Brett Fenwick stabbed her in the neck - as he has already pleaded guilty to attempting to murder her.

The jury are back in and we are up and running again.

Prosecutor Mark Giuliani has called Louise Pearce - Gareth Mallaburn's partner and the victim of attempted murder - to the witness box.

Pearce, who the court heard had been having an affair with Brett Fenwick at the time of the incident, appeared behind a screen.

She told the court that she had got home from a night out in Alnwick and heard a knock at the door sometime later.

"Being tipsy I just opened the door. Brett and Blaine just so quickly pushed past. 

"They both ran up the stairs."

Ms Pearce said the brothers were shouting about a text message that Gareth had sent to Blaine and kicking at the bedroom door.

She said she initially followed them up the stairs but there was another knock at the door, so she went to answer it.

The case has been adjourned for legal discussions between the barristers in the case.

Her Honour Judge Penny Moreland adjourned the case to allow for this to take place.

The jury have been told the hearing will resume at 2.45pm.

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard has suggested that when all four people were in the living room Gareth Mallaburn was acting 'fidgety'.

She said: "You have very quickly taken an implement - believed to be a knife and you have stabbed out at Brett Fenwick causing injury.

"You were the person on that night that started the violence first."

Mr Mallaburn: "That is not true."

Ms Mustard: "You have slashed out at him and immediately dropped whatever it was. 

"it was at that point that he picks up the implement and jabs out at you immediately and you run out of the house immediately."

Mr Mallaburn: "That is not true."

Coming to the end of her questions, defence barrister Lorraine Mustard said to Gareth Mallaburn: "You have fabricated part of your account to justify your use of violence on Brett Fenwick."

Mr Mallaburn: "I tried to defend myself as well as my partner in my house."

That concludes the questions from Brett Fenwick's defence barrister, Ms Mustard.

Mark Styles, Blaine Fenwick's defence barrister, has now taken over.

Defence barrister Mark Styles is asking Gareth Mallaburn about the night of the stabbing.

"It is [Blaine Fenwick's] case that he did not go armed to your home."

Mr Mallaburn said he saw the knife.

Mr Styles continued: "Blaine's case is he never went upstairs at all. That whatever has gone on was between you and Brett."

Mr Mallaburn: "Blaine did come upstairs with Brett. Both of them."

Mr Styles: "We are not going to be able to agree on that."

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard asked Gareth Mallaburn: "Do you remember cutting Brett's hand that night?"

Mr Mallaburn said: "I think I have cut his hand with the bit of wood when I was trying to disable the knife from his hand."

Ms Mustard: "So when you were swinging the shelf around you landed a number of blows on Brett."

Mr Mallaburn: "Probably around three or four."

Lorraine Mustard has suggested that Gareth Mallaburn attacked Brett Fenwick, not the other way around.

She said: "I am going to suggest that Brett Fenwick did not have a knife when he approached the front door that night."

Mr Mallaburn replied: "Yes he did."

Ms Mustard: "When the door was opened by Louise Brett has come through the front door first and you seeing him and knowing he's at your property, it is at that stage you pick the shelf up, isn't it?

"You then come down and start assaulting Brett with the shelf."

Mr Mallaburn: "No."

Ms Mustard: "The only thing he can do is try and push you back up the stairs where his blood is deposited."

After a short break the jury are back in and Gareth Mallaburn's evidence is set to continue.

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard asked Mr Mallaburn about a text message Louise Pearce sent to him at 4.07pm on Christmas Eve.

'You parade around with knives. You threaten me. You spit on me. You are a horrible, horrible person when you are drunk. We both need to put the kids first. Do you think they like watching me cry... watching me bring spat on?'

Mr Mallaburn said: "I do not parade around with knives at all. I do not spit on her. We do argue a lot.

"I am not a violent person. In arguments people say things they don't mean. I do not recall carrying a knife about at all."

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard reads another text to the jury, this one sent from Louise Pearce's phone to Gareth Mallaburn at 8.04am on Boxing Day.

'Spitting on my face. Calling be degrading names. Walking around with knives and metal bars'.

Mr Mallaburn said: "If I have had [a knife] in my possession I do not recall that. And If I have I do not remember why."

He told the only time he can recall having a knife in the living room was when he was adding another hole to his belt.

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard has read out a text message apparently sent from Louise Pearce to Gareth Mallaburn on Christmas Eve.

'I was scared for my safety. You said you were going to upper cut me and strangle me and leave me alone.'

Mr Mallaburn told the jury: "I have probably said it to upset her feelings."

Ms Mustard said: "She phoned the police because she was scared for her safety."

Mr Mallaburn replied: "I wouldn't do that I am not a violent person.

"Because of this affair I have turned to drink a bit more. I am trying to move on and have a better life with my partner."

Brett Fenwick's barrister Lorraine Mustard said to Gareth Mallaburn: "You were abusive towards her and you used to spit on her."

Mr Mallaburn replied: "That is not true."

Ms Mustard: "Can you recall Louise calling the police because of your behaviour on Christmas Eve?"

Mr Mallaburn: "That was when she came in drunk. I was sober.

"She went for me, she scratched my neck."

Barrister Lorraine Mustard asked Gareth Mallaburn about what happened when he found out about Brett Fenwick's affair with Louise Pearce.

She asked: "Do you recall saying to Brett you were going to take his head off with a meat cleaver?"

Mr Mallaburn replied: "I do not recall saying that."

Ms Mustard asked: "Would you agree that your relationship with Louise was abusive?"

Mr Mallaburn said: "No not abusive. At times rocky. Apparently Brett [Fenwick] was telling her I was calling her right nasty names behind her back at work.

"That was him trying to win my partner over."

Ms Mustard said: "You did used to call her nasty names, didn't you?"

Mr Mallaburn replied: "I wouldn't say nasty names."

Bodyworn footage, taken at 1.43am by a police officer responding to the incident, is shown to the jury.

The video shows Gareth Mallaburn being treated for his neck injury by a paramedic.

The paramedic is trying to stem the flow of blood from his neck wound.

The video is just a few minutes long. Once it is over prosecutor Mark Giuliani announced he has no further questions.

Defence barrister Lorraine Mustard is now asking questions of Mr Mallaburn.

Describing his injury, Gareth Mallaburn said it was a 'big open wound in my neck'.

He added: "There was just blood gushing out. My T-shirt was all soaked.

"I felt very weak."

The jury is about to be played bodyworn footage from police officers who responded to the violent incident in Howling Lane.

Gareth Mallaburn told the jury that he fled to the back door of the house and tried to use that as a shield.

He said: "He put his foot through there as well.

"I made my way out the back door and I shouted at them 'come on we will sort this out here'.

"My intention was to lead them out the back of the house in the hope my partner would be safe.

"I ran as fast as I could just to get police assistance."

At the bottom of the stairs by the front door, Gareth Mallaburn said he thought the brothers were about to leave.

He said: "Brett wasn't budging."

At this point he said Blaine Fenwick told him, apparently referring to his knife: "Do you know I have been carrying this hoping to see you."

Mr Mallaburn continued: "Brett reached for his knife. He picked the knife out. He stabbed me in the neck.

"He says 'you don't know what I am [expletive] capable of."

The jury have been shown pictures of Gareth Mallaburn's bedroom door, with a hole kicked into it, apparently by Brett Fenwick.

Mr Mallaburn said: "I thought they are coming through so easily and there's two of them there with blades.

"I thought I was going to be dead. I can't fight two of them with knives it's impossible."

At this point Mr Mallaburn hoped that the police were on the way, the jury heard.

He picked up a piece of wooden shelving and backed off from the door, ready for it to open.

Mr Mallaburn said he struck out at Brett's hand with the wood, causing him to drop the knife. Brett then put it back in his pocket and Mr Mallaburn thought it had all calmed down and they all walk downstairs.

The Fenwick brothers then 'barged through the front door', Mr Mallaburn told the jury.

He continued: "I could see Louise cowered to the side of the door frame."

"I have seen Brett and Blaine coming up the stairs."

Brett Fenwick told him: "I am going to [expletive] kill you" - according to Mr Mallaburn.

Mr Mallaburn said: "I feared for my life. I thought I need to do something.

"They have both tried swinging their knives."

He continued his account, saying that he used his bedroom door as a shield but the brothers continued trying to get in.

Gareth Mallaburn - back in the witness box - told the jury that his partner Louise Pearce went out for drinks with friends on the evening of Boxing Day, 2018.

She got back to the house about 1.10am on the 27th and Mr Mallaburn locked the doors.

He said: "I went upstairs and I heard noise out the front of my house.

"I heard voices outside. I thought I recognised the voices, one being Blaine's voice.

"I see Brett and Blaine approaching my front door. They both had knives in their right hands."

He said the blades were about 6-7 inches long.

Mr Mallaburn said Brett shouted: "Get down here now. We will handle this like men."

The defendants Brett Fenwick and Blaine Fenwick are back in the dock and the jury are filing back into the courtroom ready to start.

Gareth Mallaburn will continue to give his evidence from behind screens, answering questions first from prosecutor Mark Giuliani.

After that defence barristers Lorraine Mustard (Brett Fenwick) and Mark Styles (Blaine Fenwick) will be invited to ask questions.

Our reporter is at Newcastle Crown Court for day two of the trial of brothers Brett and Blaine Fenwick.

Yesterday afternoon prosecutor Mark Giuliani opened the case and called his first witness: alleged stabbing victim Gareth Mallaburn.

Mr Mallaburn told the jury that his partner Louise Pearce had fallen into a 'love trap' with Brett Fenwick during their five-month affair.

However he said he sought to forgive Ms Pearce after she came clean to him about the affair because they have three children together.

Mr Mallaburn is due to continue his evidence this morning, where he will address the incident at his home on December 27, 2018.

The jury have heard how the two defendants and two victims knew each other from working together in the kitchens at Alnwick Gardens.
They are:
Defendant Brett Fenwick
Defendant Blaine Fenwick - Brett's brother
Gareth Mallaburn - worked with the Fenwick brothers in the kitchens
Louise Pearce - Gareth Mallaburn's partner, who also had a five month affair with Brett Fenwick

What is alleged to have happened in Howling Road in Alnwick on December 27, 2018?

Prosecutor Mark Giuliani told the court the Fenwick brothers turned up at the home and barged their way in armed with knives.

During the violent incident Gareth Mallaburn was stabbed in the neck and Louise Pearce suffered a 'ferocious' attack.

Charges

Both Brett Fenwick and Blaine Fenwick are charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Gareth Mallaburn and have pleaded not guilty.

Brett Fenwick has been charged with possessing a blade and has pleaded not guilty.

Blaine Fenwick has been charged with two counts of possessing a blade and has pleaded not guilty.

Brett Fenwick has pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Louise Pearce.