South Ockendon man denies stabbing (From Thurrock Gazette)

South Ockendon man denies stabbing

3:55pm Monday 22nd October 2012 in News

A MAN has told a court he was not involved in stabbing another man on his doorstep.

Dale Frame, 25, of Broxbourn Drive, South Ockendon, told a jury today how he thought he was only going to Clacton with Daniel Yates, 40, also from the town, to give the man a "slap" over a debt.

But when he arrived at the scene in Clacton, he said Yates, of Araglen Avenue, started stabbing demolition worker Jamie Usedon.

"He had a knife in his right hand," Frame told Chelmsford Crown Court.
 

"I put my hands up and stepped back because there had been no mention of knives and said 'leave it, let's go' but Yates said 'no we'll do it now," Frame added.

Frame is one of four men accused of plotting to kill Mr Usedon in March this year.

The 23-year-old was left for dead outside his home in Dudley Road after he was attacked and stabbed in March this year.

The court has heard how it was only the prompt actions of neighbours and paramedics that saved him.

Frame, Yates, Robert Knight, 50, of Lowlands Road, Aveley, and Edwin Schreech-Powell, 30, of Garth Road, South Ockendon, deny conspiring to murder Mr Usedon.

He was on his way home after working a night shift on March 15 this year when the incident took place shortly after 6am.

Yates and Frame are alleged to have been the knifemen who had been driven to the scene by taxi driver Knight.

The fourth man, Schreech-Powell, is alleged to have planned the operation.
Frame told the jury he was a former drug dealer and had been involved in collecting drug debts.

He said he agreed to work with Yates in collecting a debt from someone in Clacton who owed £2,000.
 

They visited the scene twice but the person owing the money did not show up, Frame said.

He told the jury he became fed up with the two "no shows" and thought it was a waste of time but was persuaded to make a third trip from south Essex.

This time, he told the jury how they waited in Knight's taxi and saw a man get out of a van and Yates said: "That's him."

As Mr Usedon went towards his front door, Frame said he and Yates left the car and moments later he saw Yates with a knife.

"He stabbed him," Frame said.
 

He told the jury how he tried to grab Yates's arms and stood between him and Mr Usedon at one point telling Yates to stop.

"I wanted to leave the scene," Frame told the jury.

During the incident, Frame said he received a stab wound to his wrist and later received treatment at Basildon and Orsett hospitals.

He told the court he did not have a knife and claimed Mr Usedon must have been mistaken when he told the jury both men were armed with kitchen knives.

His barrister, Patricia Lynch QC: asked him: "Yates said you put the knife in his bag. What do you say to that."

Frame replied: "Ridiculous."

*The trial continues.