A MAN has been cleared of murdering Barrow man David Greenall following a trial in Preston.

Mr Greenall, 48, suffered a fatal stab wound in a ‘sly’ attack in which no-one saw the murder weapon, the court heard.

Throughout the week-long trial, the accused killer William Adrian Hughes, 63, maintained his innocence.

Members of the jury heard how Mr Hughes took on a ‘caretaker’ role at the flats in Broad Close, Ormsgill, where he lived.

Residents regularly saw him mopping the landings and tending to the communal gardens.

But in the weeks before Mr Greenall was stabbed to death near the entrance, Mr Hughes complained to housing officers and friends that he was unhappy at the property.

He said he was surrounded by “smackheads and alkies” and wanted to move to a more desirable location, but was unable to relocate during the Covid pandemic.

On the evening on June 12 2020, Mr Hughes was exercising his dogs in the communal garden of Broad Close when a neighbour Paul McAllister confronted him.

Mr McAlllister was a known criminal with a long history of carrying knives, and left his flat looking for a fight.

The jury heard how Mr McAllister had convictions for violence spanning every decade of his adult life and was regularly known to be in possession of a blade.

David Greenall, an alcoholic who lived in the same block, also joined in the “tumbling scrap” which was developing.

Neighbours said they saw a fight between the three men with fists flying and insults being hurled.

One woman, who had only moved into the building a few weeks earlier, said she heard someone shout “paedophile” - a word later found scrawled across Mr Hughes’ front door when police went to search the premises.

At some stage during the fight Mr Greenall was stabbed in the abdomen, suffering a 10cm deep wound which penetrated his liver, and ultimately led to his death.

But not one person could tell the court who brandished the killer weapon, and Mr Greenall himself suffered no defensive injuries.

Tim Storrie QC, defending, said: “It was a sly assault.”

Despite intense searches by crime scene investigators, no forensic evidence was able to link Mr Hughes, Mr Greenall and the murder weapon.

As Mr Greenall lay wounded in the hallway, Mr Hughes ran back to his flat and called the police to report a fight, the court heard.

Mr McAllister shouted after him up the stairs: “Call the police. You’ve stabbed him”, before returning to his own flat, locking the door and changing his clothing.

When Mr Greenall called the police to report the stabbing, he pointed the finger squarely at Mr Hughes, it was said.

But in defence, Mr Storrie asked the jury to consider whether the testimony of a dying man, heavily intoxicated by alcohol, could be relied on, or whether he may have been influenced by the words shouted up the stairs by Mr McAllister.

The jury was unable to say ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ Mr Hughes was the knifeman and he was cleared of murder.