AN unarmed man died from a single stab wound to the heart after he was allegedly trapped in a street by a gang bent on revenge.

David Campbell was found minutes after the attack lying on the ground with his mobile phone smashed beside him, a court heard yesterday.

His car keys had been removed from his pocket.

Paramedics were unable to save him.

Nine men all deny murdering Mr Campbell and conspiring to inflict grievous bodily harm on him and his friend, Rayon Burrell.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how Mr Campbell had run to his death trying to escape two men, carrying baseball bats, whom he saw chasing Mr Burrell.

Paul Mann, prosecuting, said that as Mr Campbell ran down Crewe Street, Normanton, a Citroen car was driving towards him. It stopped and some of the defendants got out.

"Whether Mr Campbell tried to turn back, we will never know but it would have been pointless if he had, because the youths that had started the chase, with baseball bats, arrived with others in a second car, an Astra," Mr Mann said.

He said: "One of the defendants produced a knife and stabbed him once in the chest – the blade of the knife went in deep enough to puncture the heart."

He said it was not known who had stabbed Mr Campbell but it was clear that they "were all in it together".

Mr Mann said: "Each got into those vehicles intending or knowing that very serious injury was planned for whoever they managed to capture."

The prosecution case is that the defendants had set out that evening for a revenge attack on Mr Burrell.

The jury was told there was a history of conflict between him and some of the defendants.

Mr Burrell had allegedly inflicted a "nasty gash" on the forehead of Anthony Stewart, using a glass bottle or a knife, during a fight in Violet Street in November 2008.

He was also alleged to have struck Michael Fearon on the forehead with a bottle at Deez Bar, in Curzon Street, Derby, on March 28 last year.

Mr Mann said that after Mr Campbell was stabbed in Crewe Street on March 30, the two car-loads of defendants "regrouped in Clarence Road in the hope of catching Rayon Burrell".

He said the driver of the Astra, Dewaine Fearon, had then spoken on the phone to Howard Henningham, who was with Mr Burrell at the time.

The jury heard that Fearon said to Mr Henningham: "We're on Clarence Road, if you still want to play. There's lots of space."

Mr Mann said at that time Mr Burrell was unaware of what had happened to Mr Campbell.

"And deprived of the chance to shed more blood that evening the two carloads dispersed and while Rayon Burrell lived to see what happened that evening, David Campbell was not so fortunate.

"Within minutes of the attack, he was found outside 25 Crewe Street by neighbours. Such was the severity of his injury there was nothing the ambulance or hospital could do to save him."

The accused are: Ricardo Walters, 27, of Meynell Street, Derby; Anthony Stewart, 22, of Newdigate Street, Derby; Dewaine Fearon, 32, of Ashe Place, Normanton; Michael Fearon, 21, of Richmond Road, Derby; Jovan Mills, 21, of Odessa Road, London; Odale Forsythe, 28, of Darby Street, Normanton; Orlando (also known as Richie) Stewart, 26, of no fixed abode; Sheldon McLennon, 22, of Chellands Road, Derby; and Jamie Gibbons, 18, of Harrington Street, Pear Tree.

Mr Mann said: "The prosecution submit that they were all there – some with their own scores to settle, the rest drawn together by either ties of family or friendship – principally to cause serious harm to Mr Burrell but to cause harm to anyone who stood in their way."

The trial continues.

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