The murder trial is underway at Winchester Crown Court following the death of cricketer Tommy Barton in May.

Introducing the jury to the case, Christopher Quinlan, prosecuting, said in the early hours of Sunday, May 28, the victim – Tommy Barton – stepped out of his father’s car on Park Road in Ryde.

Mr Quinlan said Mr Barton was intent on confrontation with one of the accused, Cameron Baker, who was in a property with Rio Scott.

The court heard the pair were ready for Mr Barton and stabbed him repeatedly in a joint-armed attack.

Mr Barton, staggering away, collapsed close by and died where he fell, said Mr Quinlan. 

In police interview, Mr Baker told officers he acted in self-defence, while Mr Scott denied any involvement at all.

As part of the introduction, the jury were handed bundles containing various documents, including a sequence of events, maps and photographs.

Discussing the individuals who featured in the case – the ‘main players’ – Mr Quinlan said the victim lived in Brading on the Isle of Wight and was an employee at Ryde restaurant, Catch, where he had been working the day before he was killed.

Mr Quinlan went on to introduce the witnesses in the case, including Mr Barton’s father, Mr Barton’s ex-girlfriend, Mr Scott’s girlfriend, her sister and her mother.

Mr Quinlan told the jury that Mr Barton, 30, had seen the defendants with his ex-girlfriend, Sammi Creed, outside a bar in Ryde the previous evening.

He said Ms Creed – who had split with Mr Barton two months earlier – was holding Baker’s hand which she later told police was because he was drunk.

He said the group went to a friend’s house where Mr Barton “elbowed” Baker in the head. The group then went on to other bars before they later returned to Park Road where Scott lived.

Mr Barton later arrived in Park Road in the early hours of the morning in a car driven by his 84-year-old father, Peter Thomas.

He banged on the door of Scott’s home with his father’s walking stick but when there was no answer Mr Barton and his father drove away only to return again a while later, the court heard.

Mr Quinlan said: “It seems clear Tommy Barton was ruminating, thinking about what had happened earlier and what he had seen and been told about Sammi and Cameron.

“He was not happy about what he perceived was the situation between Cameron Baker and Sammi Creed.”

He said Mr Barton, who played cricket for clubs in Ryde, Ventnor and Lymington, intended to confront the defendants but was then attacked by them and suffered multiple stab wounds.

The attack was described as swift and brutal.

Mr Quinlan said that Mr Barton’s father said his son “was looking for a fist fight and they just had the tools”.

Mr Barton Snr told police that he saw two “big weapons, not little kitchen knives”.

He added: “I knew straightaway he was dead or not going to survive.”

The trial continues and is expected to last approximately ten days.