Widnes man tells murder trial woman stabbed man like ‘crazed animal’

David Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes, denies murdering David Wilcox in his home on November 20, 2023, as do Lauren Harris, 29, of no fixed abode, and Thomas Whiteley, 33, of Clos Emlyn, Old Colwyn.

At Mold Crown Court yesterday afternoon (July 3), Webster took to the witness box to give evidence.

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Questioned by his barrister, David Elias KC, Webster said he first met Harris on November 14 when he supplied her with crack cocaine outside Mr Wilcox’s home on Bay View Road, and first met Whiteley on November 19.

The court previously heard Harris moved in with Mr Wilcox after a relationship developed between them since they first met in June 2023.

In the days leading up to November 19, Harris stayed with Webster at a chalet his father owned at Llanddulas Chalet Park, where he said they had sex once and consumed drugs together.

Harris, Webster and Whiteley had been together at another person’s flat in Colwyn Bay on November 19, but after an argument ensued, he said the three defendants went to Mr Wilcox’s home.

Webster said this was Harris’ idea, and after they arrived, they were all “having a drink” with Mr Wilcox and “chilling out”.

Thomas Whiteley (L) and David Webster (R) arrive at Mold Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

He said the three defendants, but not Mr Wilcox, took drugs in his home, and described the initial atmosphere as “quite calm”.

But later that evening, Webster said Harris suddenly “erupted”, jumping out of her chair and running at Mr Wilcox.

Asked to describe Harris at that point, he said: “Like a crazed animal… the look in her eyes… her pupils were massive, it was just the speed at which she did it.”

Webster added Mr Wilcox had done nothing to provoke Harris, before she then began punching and kicking him, and hit him to the head with a vodka bottle.

“I tried intervening and calming her down,” he said, adding he took the vodka bottle off her but she was still “irate, kicking off and shouting”.

David Wilcox (Image: Flora Camacho-Clowes)

He said Harris continued to kick and punch Mr Wilcox after he fell out of his chair and onto the floor, before Whiteley then began kicking and stamping on him.

“I tried intervening that time, as well,” Webster said.

“I bent over to get myself in-between Mr Wilcox, Ms Harris and Mr Whiteley.”

Webster said he and Whiteley then helped Mr Wilcox back into his chair, before Harris left.

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Matters “died down again”, he said, until Harris returned, picked up a knife, and stabbed Mr Wilcox.

She did this with “no warning whatsoever,” Webster said, again describing her as a “crazed animal”.

Webster said Harris then stabbed Mr Wilcox again, and despite the interventions of him and Whiteley, who was “panicking” and “in shock”, they “couldn’t get her to stop”.

Asked if he did anything physically to stop Harris, Webster said: “No. I tried telling her to calm down, but she wouldn’t calm down. She said: ‘I’ll stab you, as well, and Mr Whiteley.’

“After what I’d just seen her do, it (stabbing threat) was viable. I meant nothing to that girl, so why wouldn’t she do that to me?”

Harris then ran out of Mr Wilcox’s home and into his car; once Webster and Whiteley joined her, she drove away, but it crashed moments later.

The car (right) after it crashed (Image: Submitted)

When asked why he did not run away instead of entering the car with Harris, Webster said: “For fear of what she’d do.”

After the crash, Whiteley fled alone, but Webster and Harris left the scene together.

Webster said he wanted to be alone and “get out of that situation”, but Harris “threatened to kill me as we walked away from the car”.

Harris, Webster said, told him: “I stabbed him (Mr Wilcox) twice.”

He eventually escaped Harris near the Llys Trefor flats, but was arrested soon after, initially in connection with the car crash, after being chased by a police dog.

Mr Elias’ questioning of Webster ended with the following exchange:

DE: “Did you attack Mr Wilcox in his own home?”

DW: “I did not, no.”

DE: “Did you have a knife in his home?”

DW: “No, I never.”

DE: “Did you use a knife in his home?”

DW: “No, I never.”

DE: “Did you cause Mr Wilcox any of the injuries he suffered?”

DW: “No.”

When quizzed by Richard Pratt KC, Harris’ barrister, Webster said: “I wasn’t angry with Mr Wilcox. Mr Wilcox hadn’t done anything to me. What have I got to be angry about with him?”

“Why did you take part in so brutal an attack on him?” Mr Pratt asked.

“I didn’t take part in no brutal attack,” he answered.

The prosecution alleges Harris was responsible for stabbing Mr Wilcox, and Webster and Whiteley for unlawful violence towards him, with all three ultimately responsible for his death.

Earlier yesterday, the court heard Harris will not be giving evidence at the trial.

Webster continues his evidence today.