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Teenage murder accused 'fled to Belgium after street attack'

A 16-year-old accused of murdering a Polish man fled to Belgium while his friend and co-accused was found in back of lorry while trying to reach France, a court has heard.

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Lukasz Furmanek, who was 24 when he was killed

Lukasz Furmanek, aged 24, was killed and Radoslaw Dudek left clinging to life after both were stabbed in Handsworth.

Birmingham Crown Court heard yesterday that the schoolboy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had handed himself into a Belgian police station and confessed to having a role in the murder.

The court also heard how Abdullah Atiqzoy, 18, of Elizabeth Crescent, Oldbury, had told witness Mohammed Ashraf, who was also trying to get to France in the same lorry, he had stabbed a man to death.

Both Atiqzoy and the boy deny murder and attempted murder, while Feizullah Atiqzoy, 24, of Swan Crescent, Oldbury, has pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender.

Mr John Butterfield QC, prosecuting, read out a statement by Mr Ashraf, who is currently living in Pakistan, to the jury.

Mr Ashraf, in his statement, alleged he met Abdullah Atiqzoy on June 5 while they were both trying to leave the UK in the back of a lorry with about seven other people.

He said Atiqzoy revealed he had stabbed a Polish man, and his brother, having been told about the murder, had said he would help him 'deal with it'.

Mr Ashraf said Atiqzoy had explained that after visiting a 24-hour shop on the night of the murder, he had seen a Polish man, punched him to the ground and stabbed him.

Mr Butterfield said: "After a time the rear doors of the lorry were opened by the driver and they saw a police van.

"An Afghanistan and Pakistani man ran from the lorry but eventually everyone was arrested."

Mr Butterfield said Mr Ashraf had taken a photo, or selfie, of him and the defendant, which he had passed on to the police.

The court also heard the 16-year-old had walked into a police station in Belgium on June 9 and tried to hand himself in for killing a man in Birmingham.

Mr Butterfield read out a transcript of a conversation between officers in Belgium and the defendant to the court.

He said the 16-year-old had explained to officers how he and a friend had been walking home at about 3am when two people had approached them.

He said his friend was punched and the other man pulled out a knife but he had managed to take the knife off him and then punched him.

Mr Butterfield said the 16-year-old had said his friend had stabbed the other man and he had died.

He said after sleeping at friend's house he had been told by a neighbour there had been a murder, so he had decided to escape to Belgium in a lorry.

The trial continues.

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