A MURDER suspect who was present when the victim was stabbed by a 'big man with a mask', later pretending to be shocked by a killing he had helped to organise, a jury was told.

Adam Carpenter has been described by the prosecution as an 'organiser' of the murder after his alleged accomplice carried out the fatal attack before fleeing to Pakistan, driving the knifeman to and from the scene of the crime.

Colton Bryan, 22, died of his injuries after he was stabbed with a nine inch hunting knife at his flat in Guinness Close, Redditch shortly after 9.15pm on July 15 last year.

The man who is believed to have carried out the fatal stabbing - Mohammed Hammad Hussain - is said to have fled to Pakistan on the earliest flight he could board and is still being sought by the authorities.

Adam Carpenter, 21, of Wharrington Hill, Redditch, Faisal Fiaz, 21, of Millsbro Road, Redditch and Mohammed Saddam Hussain, 25, of Oakfield Avenue, Birmingham (Hammad Hussain's brother) are on trial at Worcester Crown Court.

All three men deny murder and conspiracy to rob following the stabbing shortly after 9.30pm on July 15 last year. Carpenter was already in the flat with Mr Bryan when the masked intruder entered.

Michael Burrows QC, prosecuting, told the jury about the aftermath of the murder.

He said: "CCTV shows him (Carpenter) leaving the Blue Inn and going to Poppy Johnson’s address in Redditch. She saw he was white and shaking.

"He told her Colton was dead and that he had been at Colton’s flat when a man wearing a balaclava had run and grabbed Colton. He said he ran out of the flat and drove away. He told her he had stayed the night at the Blue Inn in Redditch.

"What he did not tell her was that he knew the man who had attacked Colton Bryan or that he drove the man to the flat and drove him away afterwards, and that they went to Birmingham where he cleaned blood from his car. He was saying the least he could, pretending that he was shocked by what he had seen and had nothing to do with it."

Carpenter was said to have told Mr Bryan's cousin: "I didn’t see anything because I ran.”

His mother, Susan Nicklin, also called him, say the prosecution. She had seen the police in Guinness Close and heard there had been a murder there.

Mr Burrows said: "He told her he needed to talk to her and said, 'I need to get out of the country, something has happened'. You will wish to consider why he wanted to get out of the country.

"We know Hammad Hussain was trying to get out of the country. He had actually stabbed Colton Bryan and here was the other man with him who had also been in the flat also saying he wanted to get out of the country."

The court heard how he also provided the same account to his mother and her partner. Mr Burrows said: "Adam Carpenter said he had been at Colton’s flat and that he had seen a big man with a mask there and that he himself had run out." Carpenter was initially interviewed by police as a witness.

"He said he was round at Colton’s flat when a large man, 6ft 7ins tall, wearing a black balaclava and holding a big knife, came into the flat. He saw the man grab Colton and he ran out scared. He said he had dropped his phone and that it had broken," Mr Burrows said.

The trial continues.