THE father of one of the defendants in the murder trial of an Exeter man has told the jury another one of the accused came to his home and confessed.
Steven Quilivan claims that Darren Twigger turned up on his doorstep in the days after Stephen Crook was killed and told him he had stabbed someone.
He said that Twigger also told him another of the defendants, Ryan Singleton, had "gone mad with a knife" during the incident.
He was giving evidence during the on-going trial of five men at Exeter Crown Court for the murder of Mr Crook at his home in Alphington Road, Exeter, last November.
Steven Webster, aged 40, of East Street, Okehampton; Ryan Singleton, aged 26, of Howcotte Green, Canley, Coventry; Darren Twigger, aged 40, of John Rous Avenue, Canley; Bradley Richardson, aged 18, of Prior Deram Walk, Canley; and Anthony Martin, aged 22, of Gerard Avenue, Canley, all deny murder and robbery.
The jury were today (Friday) told that the defendants had borrowed Mr Quilivan's car to travel from Coventry to Exeter and shortly after the car was returned it was destroyed by fire.
Mr Quilivan said the meeting on his doorstep came sometime between his car being returned on November 22 and Twigger's arrest on November 26.
He said: "I spoke to him (Twigger) on the doorstep of my home. He just turned up without any notice and was a mess. He told me he had been involved in something and that he had stabbed someone. He also said Ryan (Singleton) had gone mad with a knife.
"I think I was in shock. I did not believe him and I did not want to believe him. I did not want to know. It was nothing to do with me. I was not there and I wish he had not told me."
Mr Quilivan , who is the father of the defendant Anthony Martin, said he had been close friends with Twigger for many years.
He confirmed they had borrowed his car and returned it to the road outside his house the next day.
He said that when he first gave a statement to police he did not tell them of his meeting with Twigger.
"I did not know what to believe," he added.
"Darren was in that much of a state. I don't think he realised what he said. I was in shock and disbelief. That was the only time I spoke to him before his arrest."
Mr Quilivan said that another close friend Jim Singleton, who is the father of Ryan, also showed up at his door in May this year. He confirmed he told him what Twigger had said about stabbing someone but did not tell him he was told Ryan had "gone mad with a knife."
The prosecution say former neighbour Steven Webster, who is now living in Okehampton, identified Mr Crook as a potential target for a robbery by four men from Coventry who had come to Devon to buy and take drugs.
Mr Crook was attacked in his home in Alphington Road, Exeter, last November, while his partner was out buying a Chinese take away. She returned to find him dying from loss of blood.
The jury have been told the five men believed he had £20,000 in cash or drugs at his house but escaped with only around £1,000, jewellery, a laptop and other valuable.
The prosecution allege Webster helped the other four gain access to the flat, which was guarded by a CCTV system, and the other four then carried out the attack with knives they had just bought at the nearby Sainsbury store.
They say after the attack the group went to Okehampton to buy drugs and then went to'celebrate' at the Spice Lounge restaurant in Exmouth and the Exeter Arms Hotel at Middlemoor, Exeter.
Ryan Singleton was arrested at a Tesco store in St Thomas, Exeter, the next morning and a pair of blood-stained trainers were recovered from his feet.
The other three men were arrested after they had left Exeter.
The trial continues.
