I'm not leaving this stand till yous believe me

MURDER TRIAL TOLD ACCUSED WAS AT SWINGERS CLUB

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

A MURDER accused told a jury 'I'm not leaving this stand until yous believe me' as they heard he was in a swingers bar at the time a dad was 'tortured to death' in his own home.

After he was arrested on suspicion of murder, Stephen Cleworth told police to check CCTV footage from Decadence swingers club, in Rochdale, to prove he was not at Thomas Campbell's home at the time he was allegedly murdered. He told them he'd had an argument 'with a transvestite' while he was at the club.

Prosecutors accept his alibi and jurors have been shown the footage.

But the Crown still allege he is guilty of murder because they claim he was involved in preparations ahead of a 'carefully planned, practised, ruthless, armed assault.

Mr Cleworth has denied intending to harm Mr Campbell or to rob him. He has told jurors at Bolton Crown Court that he was contacted by John Belfield, the alleged 'mastermind' of the attack on drug dealer Mr Campbell, about a plot to steal money or drugs which the deceased had apparently buried in a field near his home.

Mr Cleworth said he visited the street where Mr Campbell lived in Mossley, Tameside, in the days before his death to try to look for the buried treasure! Mr Belfield, 28, an associate of Mr Cleworth who is alleged to be 'heavily concerned in the large scale supply of class A drugs, is not on trial and is thought to have fled the country. Mr Campbell's former wife of 10 years is alleged to have given Mr Belfield information on her ex's movements.