John Belfield 'panicked and fled' to South America after hearing rumours he was involved in Thomas Campbell murder, jury told

Mr Belfield was arrested in March 2023 and returned to the UK about a year later. He is on trial and denies murder.

John Belfield ‘panicked’ and fled the country after hearing ‘rumours’ that he had been involved in Thomas Campbell’s murder, jurors have heard.

Mr Campbell was found naked in the hallway of his home in Mossley, Tameside, after being ‘tortured to death’ the night before, Manchester Crown Court has been told.

Mr Belfield, 31, is accused of being the ‘mastermind’ of a plot to rob Mr Campbell. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiring to rob.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Nicholas de la Poer KC told jurors of the likely issues they will have to determine in the trial.

They were told Mr Belfield ‘agrees with much of the prosecution’s case’, but denies being present at Mr Campbell’s home on the night of the killing, on July 2, 2022, or being part of any conspiracy to rob him.

Jurors have been told Mr Belfield was arrested in Suriname, a country on the north eastern coast of South America, on March 23, 2023. He was flown back to Manchester Airport almost a year later, on March 9 last year.

“His case is he left the country because he heard rumours that he had been involved in Thomas Campbell’s death and, fearing he would be the subject of a revenge attack, he panicked and fled,” Mr de la Poer KC told jurors.

Prosecutors allege Mr Belfield had ‘motivation’ for planning to rob Mr Campbell. Jurors were told Mr Belfield was allegedly seeking ‘items of value’ from Mr Campbell’s home.

They also heard Mr Campbell was in a relationship with Mr Belfield’s ex-girlfriend and that Mr Belfield had displayed ‘hostility’ towards the pair. The jury has been told that three people were previously convicted in connection with Mr Campbell’s death following a trial in 2023.

Coleen Campbell, Mr Campbell’s ex-wife, was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob. The couple, who had two children together, had divorced in 2019.

Prosecutors said Campbell, from Clayton, gave details to Mr Belfield about her ex-husband’s movements, including by passing on information from her children. Stephen Cleworth, from Heywood, who had acted as a driver for Mr Belfield, was also convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob.

Prosecutors said he planted a tracker on Mr Campbell’s vehicle, and that he was involved in carrying out ‘reconnaissance’ at his home. He was not present at the scene of the murder. Reece Steven, from Middleton, described by prosecutors as being Mr Belfield’s ‘right hand man’, was convicted of murder and conspiracy to rob.

He was found to have been one of the three men who bundled Mr Campbell into his home before he was tortured and killed. The prosecution alleges that Mr Belfield and a third, unknown man, were also present at the time of the attack, which was said to have been the product of ‘very careful planning by a team of highly organised criminals’.

Jurors were told that Mr Belfield accepts being in contact with Coleen Campbell, but says she provided him with information about where her ex-husband stored drugs. He denies passing on the information to anyone intending for a robbery to occur. “His case is that he thought that drugs might be stolen from Thomas Campbell without any violence being used or threatened,” Mr de la Poer said of the defendant.

The court was told that when he returned to the UK, Mr Belfield had a mobile phone which contained a number of messages, which prosecutors accessed. They claim messages show Mr Belfield was following the previous trial in 2023 ‘closely’, and was ‘seeking to influence the outcome’.

Mr de la Poer said that in November 2022, before the trial started, Mr Belfield messaged a contact named in his phone as ‘James’. Two messages allegedly sent by Mr Belfield read: “Listen I’ll be good in the dock but I’ll just wait because when people start getting no guilty [sic] they cant use the evidence on me then because its no guilty [sic] evidence.”

“I would love to come back and get the team a not guilty but your gunna [sic] have to do it yourself, just say you will have to ask John that.” The prosecution alleges that ‘James’ was actually Reece Steven.

In messages to a contact named ‘Smithy’, jurors heard Mr Belfield said: “Yeah I’ll be back lad if it gets dropped.” He added: “They have even less on me on the conspiracy to rob. I don’t even put the tracker on or anything. You don’t even see me in the case you just know I’m involved.”

In January 2023, Mr Belfield was said to have messaged a contact named ‘Ultra-Rosa’, and sent them a photograph of Bolton Crown Court, where the trial of Coleen Campbell, Reece Steven and Stephen Cleworth was held. Mr Belfield allegedly said: “Look like defo [sic] get away with murder there. If I’ve seen somewhere to slide it's there.”

Prosecutors also allege that Mr Belfield instructed Steven what to say when he gave evidence during his trial, and to tell the jury that he was at a cannabis farm at the time of the killing.

“And that is exactly the account Reece Steven gave to the previous jury,” Mr de la Poer said. Mr Belfield, of no fixed address, denies murder and conspiracy to rob.

Proceeding.