“Three musketeers” gang ‘hunted and killed’ Essex dogwalker

Jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the moment a dog walker was pursued by three men before being stabbed to death.

Kieran Shepherd, 30, had been walking his dog last year on October 15 in Great Baddow, Essex, when he was attacked.

Joseph Dawe, Zack O’Keefe, and Harrison Carpenter, all 20, are on trial for his murder, but have pleaded not guilty.

Around 12:24 pm, the three men chased Shepherd and allegedly attacked him, before Shepherd was found lying on the ground by a cleaner, who called the police.

He was pronounced dead around an hour later, but the three defendants have said they felt they had to defend themselves from Shepherd.

O’Keefe told the court he had dealt cocaine to Shepherd a few months before the altercation, and they had met again, when he claims Shepherd pulled out a knife.

On October 15, O’Keefe said he, Dawe, and Carpenter saw Shepherd, who allegedly shouted at the three that his dog bites.

He then claims Shepherd reached for a knife lying on the ground, adding: ‘He was going to use it on Joe, Harrison, or me, or all of us.’

O’Keefe said he then ‘swung’ the 12-inch knife before seeing blood and running away.

Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told the court the stab wounds were 13 to 15 centimeters, and were inflicted with such force that they went through Shepherd’s left lung and into his heart.

The court also heard from Carpenter’s girlfriend, Olivia McElvaney, who said in a statement summarized by prosecutor Ayling that O’Keeffe, Carpenter, and Dawe said they were the group responsible for Shepherd’s death.

Ayling added: ‘Ms. McElvaney said Joe and Harrison had a fight with Kieran, but Zack O’Keeffe stabbed him apparently twice in the back.’

The court heard one of the men claimed it ‘had to be done’, alleging Shepherd had once pulled a knife on a teenager before.

The trial continues.