A 17-year-old has denied murdering a man during a row over drugs in Gillingham.

The teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - appeared at Maidstone Crown Court today and spoke only twice to deny charges of murder and having a knife in public.

It is alleged the boy is a county lines dealer who stabbed 35-year-old Anthony Eastwood five times following an argument near The Monarch pub in Fox Street on the afternoon of Friday, December 20.

Judge Philip Statman asked if anyone had come to Maidstone Crown Court to support him and was told a social worker from Essex was in the public gallery.

The youngster was arrested at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Coquelles, France, following the killing.

A three-week trial has been fixed for June 8 and Philip Bennetts QC will lead for the prosecution.

Danny Moore, defending, said the defence is likely to be identification.

Police at the scene

The teen, from Barking, Essex, had been travelling with his mother, who is in her 40s, when he was arrested.

She was also detained on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released from custody pending further inquiries.

But Mr Bennetts told the judge no further charges were to be brought against her and her son was remanded to Cookham Wood until the trial.

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