Age: 33
Sex: male
Date: 22 Sep 2021
Place: Woodbine Street, Kirkdale
James Richards was found dead an alleyway between Woodbine Street and Harebell Street in Kirkdale, on 22 September 2021.
He was stabbed on his 33rd birthday.
It was thought that he had been stabbed elsewhere during a possible robbery and later dumped in the alleyway, and that it could not be ruled out that he had been stabbed in self-defence.
His inquest concluded that he:
It was noted that five witnesses had not come forward at the inquest to give evidence.
The inquest heard that James Richards had lost contact with his mother over the years and had been in prison for drug dealing and possession of drugs.
The police were called to the alleyway at 12.57pm on 22 September 2021 after a member of the public reported finding a body.
It was soon found that James Richards had suffered from a small puncture wound to his stomach, which was consistent with holes in his clothing.
However, a man soon after came forward via his solicitors, to say that he had been woken by his dog barking and sister screaming at their home in Reading Close, Kirkdale and had picked up a knife from the kitchen drawer and then saw two masked men, one armed with a samurai sword and another with a broken wooden broom handle, on his landing and that there was then a struggle during which he was struck in the hand by the sword.
He said that he had been holding the knife during the incident, but didn't recall striking any blows, and that the men then ran from his house.
It was noted that the man afterwards washed the knife, stating that he thought the blood on it was his own.
When the police arrested the man, along with another man, they searched his house and found a quantity of drugs were found underneath the stairs as well as a broken wooden broom handle that was consistent with the item the man had described having been attacked with.
It was noted that the samurai sword was never recovered.
It was further noted that another man went to Whiston Hospital at 2am on 22 September 2021 with a stab injury, however, he claimed that he got it at a party and refused to answer questions. However, it was noted that the police found CCTV evidence showing that he had gone to the hospital with two other men that had left with a jacket, and it was reported that the stabbed man had only been wearing 'inner clothes'.
CCTV footage was also found of the two men leaving the area in a convoy with a hatchback car that was driven by a known man. CCTV evidence also showed the stabbed man's girlfriend at the time dropping off a change of clothes, a phone and a charger at the hospital.
The stabbed man's phone was also later found in the u-bend of his toilet and it was found that he had made a number of unanswered calls to James Richards's phone.
The stabbed man's girlfriend's phone was also examined and whilst it was found to have had a number of deleted messages on it, the messages were recovered from her Apple Watch and revealed a conversation between her and another woman indicating that the stabbed man had been at the Reading Close address wearing a balaclava.
It was also heard that when James Richards was searched that along with his own phone, he had a phone on him that had belonged to the other man that had lived at the Reading Close address. When the police examined the phone, they said it revealed that there had been tensions between the other man at the Reading Close address and people from Manchester over a drug debt. The evidence showed that the man had appeared concerned over threats that had been made and that a window had been broken at his address.
Police forensic evidence from the Reading Close address showed that there was blood on the walls there, as well as on the broken wooden broom handle that matched both James Richards and the man that went to Whiston Hospital with the stab wound. Blood from the person that had lived at the Reading Close address that had gone to the police was also found outside the property.
However, it was noted that there were no fingerprints or DNA evidence found on the drugs found at the property.
Following James Richards's death, four people were arrested on suspicion of murder:
However, although a file was passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service, it was decided that no charges would be brought. A spokesman for the CPS said:
When the Coroner summed up at the inquest, he said that due to the lack of evidence that he was unable to state how James Richards came by his death, but noted that he could not rule out self-defence.
He said that the man that received the injury at the Reading Close address had had an injury consistent with a defensive injury, and noted that both James Richards's blood and blood of the man that was taken to the hospital were found on the landing there. He noted that it was peculiar that the man that had gone to the hospital had not given a full account of how he came to be stabbed, he having stated that he had been stabbed after leaving a party, and that he could not explain how his blood came to be found at the Reading Close address. He further noted that it was peculiar that the people at the Reading Close address had attempted to wash the blood away from the walls, but had not removed the drugs or the broken wooden broom handle.
The coroner noted that there was circumstantial evidence that James Richards had been at the Reading Close address as a trespasser from other man's girlfriend that had said in messages that her boyfriend had gone into a house with a balaclava, as revealed data left on her Apple Watch.
The Coroner concluded by saying:
