A CREWE teenager accused of murder was swinging a machete-type knife outside a shopping precinct "going for anyone in front of him", a court was told.

An eye witness to the altercation, in which Keagan Crimes lost his life in Winsford in October last year, said the youth didn't seem to care that he was confronted with a large group of older men pursuing him.

The youth, who was 16 at the time, was part of a masked gang who appeared at Cheviot Square clad in black tracksuits and tops.

Chester Crown Court was told they were armed with knives and a hammer and "were looking for someone".

The court heard one eye witness say how he and his friends were approached by two lads "who seemed like kids" at a Chinese takeaway on the precinct.

He said one of them rode into the precinct on a mountain bike before later pulling out a "big knife about a foot long".

"When he passed, I said to my mate, he's going to do something," said the man.

"It would be best described as a Zombie knife, a machete. He was holding it up and he didn't have a care in the world about being seen. He was shouting a name, but I didn't know who he was referring to.

"He was saying 'are you this or that?' and I said 'no'."

The witness recalled how the group targeted two men in the Premier store, raining blows and kicking the door, as they sheltered inside.

He said even when his friends had fled, the youth clutching the knife was intent on sticking around and issued threats as the late-night disturbance escalated out of control.

He was chased by a group of older men, but carried on behaving in an aggressive manner.

"He was trying to kill them all. They were shouting for him to stop. He was just going for anyone who was in front of him," said the man. "He didn't seem fazed that there were so many people there.

"It was as if he had something to prove to people and wanted to do something."

Another eye witness said she thought the youth was "under the influence of something".

"You could tell by his eyes he didn't seem on it. He sounded like he was on something. He looked at me and then just walked off. His eyes didn't seem right," she said.

Outlining the case for the prosecution, Gordon Coles QC has previously told the court how a man in the larger group, Jason McQuoid, tried to hit the defendant with a large branch or log.

In the ensuing melee Mr McQuoid was stabbed in the back and another man was also said to have been injured, say the prosecution, while Mr Crimes, who had appeared on the scene, also become embroiled in the trouble.

"They did everything to get him to go, but he wasn't having it," said the first eye witness.

"He was swinging his knife and Keagan slipped. He [youth] put his hand on his shoulder and drove it down. He was shouting and screaming and waving the knife around."

The youth was then said to have run into a chip shop on the precinct and barricaded himself in.

Michael Hayton QC, for the defendant, asked the witness if he had seen the older group of men with a log and he questioned: "How could you say he wasn't bothered when you couldn't see his face? He could have been frightened for his life.

"It's fair to say isn't it that the group were loud and aggressive to the boy? Did you see him on the floor being kicked to his head and face?"

Mr Crimes was seen collapsed on the ground near to the McColls store opposite the precinct.

He had suffered a stab wound to his chest and attempts were made to stem the bleeding from his wound with a t-shirt.

Meanwhile, his attacker was under siege from the other men after he holed himself out in kebab shop.

A man who was passing by at the time said he looked like a "trapped rat" and said the men were trying "to get him" and that a car driver was encouraged to run him down.

He said: "I told him [the youth] not to come anywhere near me with that [the knife]."

The youth completed his escape, the court heard previously, by ringing his mother who arranged for a taxi to take him back to his Crewe home in the early hours of October 12, 2020.

Mr Crimes died as a result of the stab wound, which penetrated his heart, at the Royal Stoke Hospital the same day.

The defendant was arrested three days later and interviewed on five separate occasions before being charged with Mr Crimes' murder on June 21 this year.

Now 17, he has pleaded not guilty to murder and he has also denied charges of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding as well as possession of a knife.

The trial continues.