A TEENAGE watched his friend collapse in front of him after telling him he had been stabbed, a court has heard.

Lewis Singleton ran past his friend Craig Smith shouting "I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed" jurors in his murder trial have been told.

Mr Smith described how he was walking home with 18-year-old Lewis in the Woolston area of Southampton in the early hours of March 31 last year, when they were ambushed by a five-strong gang.

This morning Mr Smith, 19, told Winchester Crown Court that he managed to flee as the mob jumped out of a car, parked on Obelisk Road, but his friend did not.

Mr Smith said when he got to the end of the road he saw four of the attackers punching and kicking Lewis who fell to the floor.

As the fifth member of the gang approached Mr Smith he said Lewis ran past him. "He carried on running past me and said I have been stabbed I have been stabbed," he said.

Mr Smith caught up with Lewis in nearby Condor Close where his friend collapsed.

Despite emergency services being called Lewis died in hospital later that morning.

Rikki Johnson and Sercan Calik , both aged 19, and two youths who cannot be named for legal reasons are accused of being members of the five-strong mob.

Johnson, of Honeysuckle Road, Bassett, Sercan, of Burgess Road, Bassett, and the youths aged 16 and 17 all deny charges of murder and violent disorder.

The trial continues