Teenager admits to fatal stabbing of Rugby man on Halloween last year in act of 'excessive force in self-defence'

Ethan Tucker had pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to the murder of 24-year-old Mr Jackson during the incident on the evening of October 31.

But at a pre-trial hearing, after the original trial date this month had to be abandoned because of the Covid-19 lockdown, his barrister Rachel Brand QC asked for the indictment to be put to him again.

Tucker (18) of Meadow Road, Rugby, appearing via a video link from Brinsford young offenders’ institution, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Jackson - but guilty to manslaughter.

With the barrister appearing through the Microsoft Teams video conferencing facility, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano asked: “Where do we go from here?”

Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said that Tucker’s plea, which had been entered on the basis that he had used ‘excessive force in self-defence,’ was acceptable to the prosecution.

He explained: “There is no question that Cain Jackson was seeking a confrontation with the defendant, going to his house with a pretty lethal weapon, and the defendant coming out armed.

“Of course, he should not have come out, and the force he used was excessive in the circumstances.”

Of a suggestion that Tucker should be sentenced on May 22, Judge de Bertodano said: “My hope is that we will be able to be present in this courtroom, but whether we will or not, the hearing will be on that date.”

Miss Brand said: “If it’s going to be over Teams, we hope that his parents would be able to watch the hearing through a remote link from his solicitor’s office, and that the deceased’s family will be over the same facility from Rugby police station.”

Adjourning the case, and remanding him in custody, the judge told Tucker: “That is the end of this hearing.

“You are going to be back here on the 22nd of May, and I very much hope you will be able to be brought to the court building, rather than over the link, and that your family will have a way that they can see and hear.”