A man accused of being part of a group who stabbed and beat a man to death denied murder when he was arrested two days later.

Michael Richardson is accused of forming a team armed with weapons when they went to target Lee Clarkson’s house.

The 52-year-old was allegedly heading up the mob-handed group when Mr Clarkson was dragged out of his home and killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the group of five were looking for his housemate, Simon Blacklock, who they believed had burgled his shed on two occasions.

Lee ClarksonLee Clarkson (Image: DURHAM CONSTABULARY)

Mr Clarkson suffered fatal stab wounds after he was attacked outside his Bishop Auckland home on November 29 last year.

Jurors listened to a transcript of Richardson’s police interview following his arrest on December 1 where he denied knowing his co-accused.

The suspect denied knowing the victim or being anywhere near his house on West View on Woodhouse Lane estate at the time of the alleged murder.

When asked whether he had murdered Mr Clarkson, he replied: “I haven’t even murdered a pigeon. I haven’t killed anyone.

“I don’t even know the person.”

Police at the scene on the evening of the incident.Police at the scene on the evening of the incident. (Image: TERRY BLACKBURN)

Richard Wright KC had told the jury that Michael Richardson had formed the ‘team’ after two burglaries at his family home on September 18, and again on November 19, 2023, just ten days before Clarkson was killed.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the suspects arriving in the vicinity of Mr Clarkson’s home just minutes before he was killed.

Jurors also watched footage of three of the group, Karl Jones, Helen Jones, and Craig Dent, wandering around a shop minutes after the alleged murder while they were on the phone to Richardson.

Police at the scene of the alleged murder of Lee Clarkson in Bishop Auckland.Police at the scene of the alleged murder of Lee Clarkson in Bishop Auckland. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

In a second police interview, Richardson denied that anyone else had been in his car on the night of the alleged murder.

He told detectives that calls between himself and Craig Dent were about the ferrets he was selling and continues to deny that it was his car that had been caught on the CCTV footage.

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When confronted with the fact that police had already identified the people inside his car, Richardson admitted that he gave them a lift but continued to deny he knew them.

Richardson, 52, of Boddy Street, Bishop Auckland; Karl Jones, 45, of General Bucher Court, Bishop Auckland; Helen Jones, 42, of General Bucher Court, Bishop Auckland; Dent, 42, of Gray Street, Eldon Lane; and the teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murder.

Two members of that team, Dent and the 17-year-old have admitted manslaughter but continue to deny murder.

The trial continues.