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Murder defendants 'wanted end to bad blood'

By Stephanie Cockroft
February 22, 2012

A FATHER and son accused of murdering an Aldershot man acted in self-defence after suffering a “campaign of intimidation and serious violence” over several years, a jury has been told.

In the closing speeches of a murder trial at Winchester Crown Court, defence counsel told jurors that Stephen Stewart, 45, had only gone to Basing Drive, where Andrew Rickwood was killed, as a “misguided and mildly intoxicated peacemaker”.

William Stewart, his 24-year-old son and co-defendant, had gone along to Mr Rickwood's home with his father out of fear of what might happen to him, it was said.

He then made a “split-second judgement” to plunge a knife into Mr Rickwood’s back in order to save his father, the court heard.

Both defendants, of Lancer Court, Aldershot, deny murdering Mr Rickwood outside his home on July 20 last year.

The fatal stabbing followed a four-man fight between the defendants and the victim and his son, Ciaran, after the Stewarts turned up unexpectedly in the early hours.

The prosecution claim the attack was a culmination of “years of violence” towards the Rickwood family, and that the pair had a plan to “execute” Mr Rickwood from the start.

During the closing speeches on Tuesday (February 21), Elizabeth Marsh QC, defending Stephen Stewart, told the jury her client had made some “very bad decisions that night” but it did not mean he had committed murder.

She said the incident had stemmed from a “spontaneous, ill-thought, late-night visit” in which Stephen Stewart was trying to put an end to the “stupidity” which had plagued the lives of his family for so many years.

David Nathan QC, representing William Stewart, said the fatal stabbing came out of fear as his client watched his father being attacked on the ground by Mr Rickwood and his son, who were said to have both been armed with weapons.

He added that no witnesses saw either defendant carrying a weapon when they first approached the Rickwoods' home.

But prosecutor William Mousley previously said to Stephen Stewart: "The truth of the matter is that you and your son provoked all the trouble that took place in Basing Drive - that all the actions of the Rickwoods were a reaction to your threats and use of violence.

“And having armed yourselves, you attacked them both, but principally Mr Rickwood.”

The judge was due to sum up the case on Wednesday afternoon with the jury retiring to consider its verdicts afterwards.

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