Gordon Gault: War talk in alleged killer feud was 'exaggeration'

Talk of a "war" in which a 14-year-old boy was allegedly murdered by rivals was just "exaggeration", a court heard.

Gordon Gault was killed by 18-year-old Carlos Neto with a machete in Newcastle in November.

Mr Neto and five others aged 16 to 18 deny murder. Prosecutors say there was a feud between rival groups of youths.

One of the accused told Newcastle Crown Court they talked about violence and carrying weapons but never intended anyone to get hurt.

Jurors have heard the accused were associated with Benwell and had issues with youths from neighbouring Elswick.

Prosecutors said the "beef" started with the posting of disrespectful rap songs online and escalated to actual violence.

The six defendants went to their rivals' area on 9 November to exact revenge after one of their number was attacked earlier in the day, prosecutors have alleged.

The youths said they just wanted to take pictures of themselves in Elswick to post online to embarrass their rivals and show they were not scared of them.

A chase ensued in which Gordon was fatally wounded in the arm and a 17-year-old boy slashed on the back by Mr Neto, with the accused saying he acted in self-defence.

In group chat messages sent in October, the defendants talked about having a "war" with rivals.

Messages also discussed arranging fights, setting people up for a beating and carrying knives, the court heard.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Christopher Moran, the 17-year-old defendant said the chat was just "exaggeration".

Mr Moran asked if the youth "really enjoyed talking about violence", to which the boy replied: "Not necessarily enjoyed, but yes we did speak about violence."

The court heard the boy moved away from Newcastle because of fears of the rivals but returned two days before Gordon was attacked.

While living elsewhere, messages were exchanged about there being people "in town" and "fireworks", to which the boy responded he wished he was there and that sort of thing got him "excited".

"Why did you wish you were there?" Mr Moran asked, suggesting the discussion was about a possible fight in Newcastle.

The boy said there were several minutes before the first messages and his reply, so he could not now recall what he was actually responding to.

"Why aren't you willing to tell us now that you were getting excited about people talking about fighting?" the prosecutor asked.

The boy said he was "just not sure about the context" of the messages being read to jurors.

Several defendants have said they were just a "music group" and had no criminal purpose, and, while there were issues with their rivals, there was not an actual feud.

The six youths also deny wounding the 17-year-old boy injured on the same night as Gordon.

Two of the defendants, aged 16 and 17, are unable to be identified because of their age, but the others who are all 18 are:

The trial continues.

Follow BBC Newcastle on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]