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Man 'saw red' before stabbing stranger on bus 15 times

A man accused of murdering a passenger on the bus claimed he thought he was stabbed first and lashed out with a pair of scissors in self-defence, he told a jury.

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Leon Hazle

Kieran Gillespie confronted Leon Hazle, a complete stranger, on the number 11 bus in January, knifing him at least 16 times after 'seeing red.'

However no stab marks were found on him when he gave himself up to police two days later, the court heard. Mr Hazle, aged 36, from Smethwick, died at the scene.

Gillespie, 25, giving evidence at Birmingham Crown Court, claimed he saw Mr Hazle rolling cannabis on the top deck of the bus when he took a seat across the aisle.

That prompted him to move to the back of the bus 'because I didn't want to be involved and to avoid altercation,' he said.

But a row started when Gillespie took exception to the way Mr Hazle turned to look at him, so he got up and approached him. He claimed Mr Hazle said: 'Okay, so this boy thinks he's bad. Watch if I don't stab him up.'

More words were exchanged, said Gillespie, then he felt an impact on the side of his face and thought he had been stabbed. "Then it all just happened. I stabbed him. I completely lost control. I didn't know what I was doing," he told the jury. He told police he 'saw red.'

After the attack, Gillespie leaned over to pick up his sports bag and headphones and got off the bus in Rookery Road, Handsworth.

He started to run until he realised he had left his cap on board and returned to pick it up. When he got upstairs, Mr Hazle was breathing in a 'weird' way. After retrieving the hat, he claimed he shouted for someone to get an ambulance before fleeing the scene. "I was scared," he told the court.

He said he discarded the scissors along the way before jumping on a number 74 bus to go to a girlfriend's house in Bartley Green.

He admitted he lied about what happened in the aftermath of the stabbing, initially telling police that he returned to his home in Wellesbourne Road, Handsworth, that night.

Gillespie told the jury it was to protect his girlfriend who was in the dark about what had happened. "I didn't want her to know. I was ashamed. I didn't want her to see me as that person."

The next day he discarded his clothes at a nearby clothes bank and went to his mother's house. The following day she accompanied him to Birmingham where they met up with a solicitor and he turned himself in to police.

Earlier Gillespie posted his intention on Facebook. He said: "I wanted the chance to explain to people who knew me before the media told it in their words."

Gillespie denies murder. The trial continues.