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George Knights tells jury in Stephen Chapman murder case: 'I am not gangster'

The teenager accused of copying an American TV show by killing a drug dealer and putting his body in acid has told a jury: "I am not a gangster".

George Knights, 19, from Rochester, is accused of plunging a double-edged commando knife into the head of dad-of-five Stephen Chapman.

Stephen Chapman's body was found in a fetal position, upside down in a wheelie bin and doused with sulphuric acid, the court heard
Stephen Chapman's body was found in a fetal position, upside down in a wheelie bin and doused with sulphuric acid, the court heard

He said that a few days before the killing he had a tattoo on his neck depicting a double-edged dagger and a snake - but denied knives "excited" him.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry QC asked: "Did you want people to look at that tattoo and think: "That's not someone I want to mess with?"

Knights replied: "No...I just thought it would make me look older and a bit tougher."

Ms Carberry: "Did you fancy yourself as a gangster?"

Knights: "I don't think I was a gangster."

George Knights, 19, is accused of murdering Stephen 'Ginger' Chapman
George Knights, 19, is accused of murdering Stephen 'Ginger' Chapman

The prosecutor then questioned Knights using the name Walter White, a fictional drug dealer from TV show Breaking Bad, as his own name when applying for a driver's licence.

When asked why he had used it, Knights replied: "Because I had seen Breaking Bad. I have watched all five seasons. I don't know why I used the name."

The prosecutor said that in the show, in series one, episode two, Pinkman (a character) puts a rival dealer in acid to dispose of the body.

Knights admitted using the family home in Delce Road, Rochester, to try to make amphetamines using sulphuric acid.

Knights denied getting the idea to make his own drugs from Breaking Bad, when asked by the prosecution.

Officers were seen at the junction of Delce Road and Foord Street on the day Mr Chapman's body was found
Officers were seen at the junction of Delce Road and Foord Street on the day Mr Chapman's body was found

Ms Carberry then asked: "You took the idea of putting the body of Stephen Chapman into acid from Breaking Bad didn't you?"

Knights replied that he did.

He also replied yes when Miss Carberry asked: "The aim of Walter White was to become the drug kingpin wasn't it?" and: "And Walter did that by killing rival drug dealers, didn't he?"

She went on: "And was that what Stephen Chapman was to you?"

Knights replied: "No he wasn't."

The teenager - in his third day of being cross-examined - is accused of trying to dispose of Mr Chapman's body by putting it in a wheelie bin and pouring sulphuric acid over him.

The 19-year-old previously told the court that Mr Chapman had threatened to kill him after the two fell out over a drugs deal.

He said the the father-of-five had tried to stab him and he felt like he was going to die. He said he acted in self-defence.

Knights, who denies murder, told the jury at Maidstone Crown Court how he had tried to make his own amphetamines at his Rochester home and admitted selling cocaine "for the money".

He said he had his own list of clients and dealt in cocaine through "Des in Soho" and a local man he refused to name.

Knights told Miss Carberry that he used or dealt in cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, mushrooms, Ecstasy and Xanex.

The case continues.

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