Shadowy figures caught on camera before Jodie Chesney’s murder, court told

Shadowy figures were caught on CCTV going into a park moments before 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death, a trial has heard.

Jurors were shown video footage of Jodie and her friends walking towards the east London park along St Neot’s Road earlier that evening.

At around 9:20pm, grainy footage showed two shadowy figures getting out of a black Vauxhall Corsa on Retford Road, bordering the park.

The car then did a U-turn, turned its lights off, was stationary for 49 seconds before moving off and picking up two individuals.

Before the car went out of view, high-pitched screams were heard recorded on another audio camera.

The A-level student had been with a group of friends sitting on a bench in Amy’s Park, Harold Hill, when she was knifed in the back on the evening of March 1.

The Old Bailey has heard how Jodie began to scream and her group panicked and became hysterical after realising she had been hurt.

Despite the efforts of medics, the 17-year-old died before she reached hospital, the court has heard.

The court listened to the harrowing recording in which the cries went on for just under a minute.

Jurors were told that while the screams continued, the evidence did not bear out Jodie’s boyfriend Eddie Coyle’s testimony that she screamed for minutes.

Mr Coyle had previously testified at the Old Bailey on September 20, in which he gave an emotional recount of how she collapsed in his arms after being fatally stabbed.

20-year-old Manuel Petrovic, who is said to have been driving the black Vauxhall Corsa, 19-year-old Svenson Ong-a-Kwie, and two youths aged 16 and 17 from east London have been accused of Jodie's murder, which they deny.