Harry Baker, 17, died in 'drug deal gone wrong' as seven go on trial for murder

A court has heard how a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a 'drug deal gone wrong'.

Harry Baker, from Cardiff, was found dead at Barry Docks in August last year.

Seven people appeared at Newport Crown Court on Tuesday charged with his murder.

Opening the trial on Wednesday, prosecutor Paul Lewis QC told the jury Harry Baker's mobile phone was taken from his dead body which was found at Barry Intermodal Terminal on Wednesday 28 August last year.

His phone was then used to call Poppy Davies, who Harry Baker had been staying with in Barry in the days leading up to his death.

The court heard how the caller disguised his voice, saying: "Ha, guess whose phone we are calling off. We've got your boy's phone. You won't be hearing from him again." The phone then went dead.

Addressing the jury, the prosecutor said, "You may conclude the caller must have known that Harry Baker was dead, not merely injured, in order to tell Poppy Davies she would not be hearing from him again."

Leon Symons, 21, told police it was a drug deal gone wrong when he was arrested. He said: "he didn't deserve it, that little kid."

Paul Lewis QC said: “We say all the defendants are guilty of murder, either as principals who actually attacked Harry Baker, with the intention he should be killed or suffer really serious harm, or they are guilty as secondary parties, who aided and abetted with the same intent as those who actually stabbed him to death.”

The seven defendants, Peter McCarthy, 36, Ryan Palmer, 33, Raymond Thompson, 47, Leon Clifford, 22, Lewis John Evans, 61, all from Barry, Leon Symons, 21, and a 16-year-old male, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from Cardiff, deny the charge.

The trial, which is expected to last for six to eight weeks, continues.