A TEEN has accepted stabbing a Winsford man 'hard in the chest' but denies a charge of murder, his trial has heard.

The 17-year-old from Crewe, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted his actions led to the death of Keagan Crimes after he stabbed him in Cheviot Square on Oct 11, 2020.

Re-taking the stand to continue giving evidence at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, January 11, the youth also admitted how a row over drugs being dealt in the area had led to an altercation with several men.

He also admitted that, along with others, smashing windows to try and steal drugs from another property in the early hours of the same day, before he and his associates received several direct threats by way of retaliation.

Gordon Cole QC, prosecuting, put it to the teen he had taken a knife, not just 'to scare people' but to ‘cause trouble'.

He said: "You're part of a little gang aren't you?

"The background to this incident is the fact there had been a drugs fallout between people selling drugs in Winsford.

"You decided to go out with this big knife to cause trouble.

"You accept stabbing Keagan Crimes don't you?

"You held that large knife in such a way the blade was pointing upwards and you stabbed him to the chest.

"You stabbed him hard, using force, in his chest."

Just 16 at the time of the incident, the teen admitted he was 'physically responsible' for inflicting the fatal wound to Mr Crimes.

He also admitted how disagreements over drugs were involved, before going on to tell the court how cocaine, heroin and crack were kept at the flat he 'hung around in', although denied being a dealer himself.

"It's a dangerous world isn't it, the drugs world," Mr Cole continued.

"Because people protect their markets don't they?"

Earlier in the day, under cross-examination from his defence barrister Michael Hayton QC, the teen admitted going to the Premier Store in Cheviot Square 'to scare people' in the hope they would leave him and his associates alone, but how other men turned up.

"I remember six to 10 males running towards me," the defendant said.

"I was just swinging my knife at them to keep them back, but they just kept on coming.

"Two of them looked like they were carrying knives and another was carrying a branch about eight to nine feet in length.

"They wouldn't back up, they just kept coming towards me.

"I thought I was going to die.

"I'm sorry for my actions.

"I wished it could have turned out differently.

"I had no intention to cause serious injury or kill Keagan Crimes."

The trial continues.