Murder accused chooses not to give evidence at trial

MURDER accused Ross Miller will not give evidence in his trial while his brother has been found not guilty.

Miller is alleged to have killed Brandon Lee in an attack which left him with more than 100 injuries, including 60 inflicted with a blade.

After prosecutors closed their case, the time came when Miller could have gone in the witness box to give evidence, but his barrister said he was exercising his right not to.

Psychiatric evidence was being called as part of MIller’s defence case.

His brother, Garry Miller, who had been jointly accused of murder, was acquitted at the direction of the trial judge.

Ross Miller is alleged to have inflicted 60 separate actions from a sharp-edged weapon, such as a machete, including “chopping, stabbing and potentially slashing”, jurors have been told.

The alleged murder is said to have taken place during a night of socialising at Miller’s flat on Victoria Road, South Shields, in the early hours of Tuesday, May 12.

Newcastle Crown Court has heard Miller and Mr Lee had known each other through a group of friends some years ago and had recently got back in touch via an online game.

They met up occasionally and Mr Lee sometimes visited Miller’s flat - as he did on the evening of Monday, May 11, when they became intoxicated.

David Brooke QC, prosecuting, said that late on the Monday night and into the early hours of the Tuesday morning, neighbours became aware of a lot of noise from Miller’s flat.

One heard Ross Miller “arguing with other people with loud voices around midnight” and another was awoken around the same time to “a lot of banging and the noise of footsteps up and down the stairs”.

Mr Brooke said the scene was like a “bloodbath” when police arrived.

A post-mortem examination determined that Mr Lee had died due to stab wounds to the neck and chest. In total there were more than 100 injuries.

Miller, 23, denies murdering Mr Lee, who was 24 and from Jarrow.

The trial continues.