A MURDER trial into the samurai sword killing of a Ramsbottom man has heard how the victim was stabbed after being chased down an alleyway.

The allegations were made by Stephen Goodwin, 22, who with three others had denied murdering a man with a samurai sword in Ramsbottom last August.

Goodwin, the last of the defendants to give evidence, said he heard a friend, John Watt, tell victim Richard Meakin he was "going to kill him."

Goodwin, of Bright Street, Radcliffe, said he knew Watt, 22, had had a dispute with the victim, his brother and another man.

Watt was attacked in his own flat when three men burst in on August 19. He was hit with a wrench and sliced with a knife and was very angry about it.

Goodwin said he knew of the trouble, but said when they saw Richard Meakin in Rostron Road, Rawtenstall, on August 22 it was a chance encounter.

After the victim was chased into a driveway, Goodwin said he saw Watt and Nathaniel Clarke-Collins, 19, who worked together, were ahead of him.

He said: "I clambered over a fence. I saw a lad lying on the ground and Nathaniel had a sword. He was stabbing him repeatedly.

"The lad was shouting his head off and kicking out as John Watt was kicking him."

Goodwin said Nathaniel handed him the sword and, without thinking, he swung it once.

He added: "I do not know if I made contact. I was in a panic. My hands were shaking and I passed the knife to John."

Goodwin said he saw Nathaniel and a fourth man, Martin Nicholl, kick the victim as Watt "stabbed towards the lad" before they fled.

Goodwin, Watt, of Square Street, Ramsbottom, Clarke Collins, of Moyse Avenue, and Nicholl, 33, of Hurst Street, both Bury, deny murder.

Charles Garside QC, prosecuting, has alleged all four defendants, acting together, attacked and killed Meakin.

The motive for the attack was a feud that had developed between Watt, the dead man, his brother and a friend.