A MAN accused of being the ringleader of a gang which stabbed a Welling teenager to death, has denied being involved.

Wesley Timon, aged 20, of Heavitree Road, Plumstead, is one of four men accused of killing David Wheaton, 19, in Plumstead in February this year. The four men all deny the murder charge.

At the trial at the Old Bailey, Timon denied cornering Mr Wheaton in a front garden on the Glyndon estate, Plumstead, after Mr Wheaton had chatted up a female friend earlier in the evening at TJ's nightclub in Woolwich.

He said he only went along with fellow accused Bradley Hutton, aged 21, of Jefferson Walk, Woolwich; James O'Brien, aged 20, of Cade Tyler House, Blackheath Hill, Greenwich, and Ian Cowling, aged 18, of Plumbridge Street, Greenwich.

He admitted: "I jumped out of the car to attack David Wheaton with my fist.

"I cannot explain why two of the people started stabbing him. I can't say what purpose they had. I don't know."

He added: "I never went to kill anyone or seriously hurt them."

Timon admitted chasing Mr Wheaton into the garden. The prosecution says Mr Wheaton had run to a friend's house to get away from the gang but no-one answered the door and he was cornered in the garden.

Timon said: "I was watching the rumble. There was a fight. David Wheaton was being attacked. I never joined in. You couldn't even get to David Wheaton because there were two people attacking him."

Timon is accused of leading the gang of killers but he claimed he had no reason to attack Mr Wheaton.

He told the court he had asked Hutton about the killing.

Timon said: "Bradley said they had gone out with girls and they had a madness and got themselves armed withknives."

He added: "I didn't ask him more. I was baffled David Wheaton was dead."

Mr Wheaton was stabbed 12 times in the buttocks, stomach and shoulder. One knife wound penetrated his heart.

He escaped from the garden but died on a grass verge, his last moments caught on CCTV.

Hutton, O'Brien and Cowling decided not to give evidence in their own defence.

The trial continues.