Pair convicted after death of Bulwell man

Adam Ward, of Nottingham, was found guilty of manslaughter at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday alongside Aaron Aziz, 29, of Nottingham, who was convicted of assisting an offender.

Calvin Turner, 18, of Nottingham, and three 16-year-olds were acquitted and found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Ward had been at a party in Commercial Road in the early hours of June 29 last year when an altercation occurred between two people resulting in one of them, 38-year-old Bulwell man Lee Marshall, receiving a fatal stab wound to his buttock.

Police were called to the scene just before 3.30am and when they arrived they found a group of teenagers gathered around Mr Marshall who was lying on the pavement and had clearly lost a lot of blood.

They immediately started administering first aid until ambulance colleagues arrived and he was taken to hospital where he sadly died later that morning.

As the investigation unfolded, the teenagers were arrested and charged with murder.

Aziz was the last of the group to be arrested on July 22 and subsequently charged in connection with assisting an offender having driven Ward away from the scene.

CCTV enquiries showed Ward getting into Aziz's car not long before 4am on the day of the incident.

In the footage, Ward could be seen on his mobile phone.

Enquiries proved it was Aziz he was speaking to and officers uncovered that he had called him very soon after the stabbing.

As a result of police searches in the area of Cinderhill tram stop, the weapon used, a kitchen knife, was recovered.

During the nine-week trial, the group stated they felt threatened by Mr Marshall's presence at the party with Ward admitting that he had delivered the fatal blow but had been acting in self-defence to protect the rest of the group.

However, the jury considered the evidence and reached the decision that Ward and Aziz were guilty.

Both men will be sentenced on Friday.

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