'Panicking' murder accused, 19, searched 'how much time do you serve for killing someone', jury told

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A student accused of murder searched 'how much time do you serve for killing someone' in panic, a jury heard. Luke O'Connor, 19, was stabbed to death in Fallowfield following an incident on Wilmslow Road in October last year.

Shiloh George Pottinger, also 19, is accused of his murder. He denies the charge and claims he was acting in self defence. Manchester Crown Court has heard that a fracas developed after a friend of Mr O'Connor made a 'lighthearted' comment about Mr Pottinger's skateboard. Read more: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community Prosecutors allege Mr Pottinger, then a student at BIMM, a university offering music courses, reacted 'unpredictably and violently'.

During the ensuing disorder, Mr O'Connor, who was a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, was stabbed eight times. Giving evidence for the first time as the murder trial entered a second week, Mr Pottinger said he produced the knife because he was 'scared' and acting in self defence. "I just flailed my arm," he said. "It was just a reaction." Asked when he realised Mr O'Connor had been hurt, Mr Pottinger said he noticed blood on him and that he saw him fall over.

Mr Pottinger said he got his skateboard and left the scene shortly after. Asked why he left, he said: "I was just terrified at what I had seen." Mr Pottinger said he learned of Mr O'Connor's death in the following hours after receiving a message from a friend on a Snapchat group chat. "He said someone had been killed on the road where we was last night," the defendant said. "What was going through your head?," he was asked by his barrister Siobhan Grey KC. "I just couldn't believe it," the defendant replied. "It was devastating to find out what had