Michael Fields denies the murder of Paul Foster, who died after being stabbed in the back during a drugs ‘taxing’, but has admitted manslaughter
Michael Fields is accused of the murder of Paul Foster
A dad who is accused of murder has told a court that he “could have had Mr Tumble sitting in the back” of his car as he drove to the scene of a fatal stabbing. Michael Fields is one of five defendants who are currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with murdering 47-year-old Paul Foster.
Known as “Pablo”, the victim died after suffering a single stab wound to the back during a “taxing” at a flat on Muirhead Avenue in West Derby in October 2024. His assailants were said to have been “tooled up” with a knife and an imitation firearm at the time of the robbery, stealing drugs and a quantity of cash from the address before fleeing.
Fields, who drove the gang to the scene, continued giving evidence to the jury for a second day today, Wednesday. He and his co-accused, Elsadig Abrahim, Zayd Alasaly, Dylan Blundell and Sarah Kasseum, have all pleaded not guilty to murder.
Although he admits manslaughter, Fields denies having been the man who stabbed Mr Foster or intending that he be killed or seriously injured during the incident. Under cross-examination from lead prosecution counsel David McLachlan KC, he denied being a “leader amongst men” or being “in a position to lead” Alasaly, Abrahim or Blundell.
When asked the same question with regards to Kasseum, Fields replied “impossible”. He went on to agree that Kasseum and Blundell were “the main people in the case” and that the robbery was “their idea”.
Mr McLachlan then put to Fields that he had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm, which he subsequently admitted. Asked “why the change of heart”, he replied: “Truthfully, I thought I would try and do the right thing. I decided to do the right thing, the honest thing. It was to do the right thing regarding Mr Foster’s family.”
Asked who he had seen carrying the imitation firearm in the back of his car, Fields told the court: “I couldn’t tell you. Someone had it in the back of the vehicle, waving it about. I looked in the rear view mirror and seen it. There’s three people in the back of the car. It’s hard to see in the back of the car.
“At first, there was mention about going to rob Mr Foster, and then the firearm got pulled out. I said ‘what the f***?’, and somebody shouted out ‘it’s OK, it’s only to scare him, it’s not real’.”
Fields went on to state that Blundell had made this comment and, asked why he had not mentioned this detail previously, added: “At first, I thought I could just put my head in the sand. Obviously, I can’t. I’ll try to tell the truth to the best of my knowledge.”
When Mr McLachlan asked if he “thought it was getting a bit heavy” upon seeing the fake gun, Fields said: “To be truthful, no. It was an imitation firearm. It wasn’t a real gun. It wouldn’t have hurt nobody. He said it’s not real, it’s just to scare him.
“I thought they would punch him at the most. If anyone would have done that to myself, I would have s*** myself, thinking it’s a real firearm. I thought that would have been enough.”
Having accepted that Kasseum was present in the back of his car with Blundell occupying one of the rear seats, Fields was then asked whether Abrahim was also in the vehicle. Having told the jury “I don’t wish to answer”, Mr McLachlan put to him that he had “said he would do the right thing”, at which stage the defendant added: “I’m doing the right thing, but I’m protecting my own life.”
Fields was then told that Abrahim accepted being present in the car in his defence statement, at which he said: “OK. He must have been in the vehicle then.”
But, asked who the fifth occupant of the car was, Fields said: “I cannot tell you who the fifth person was.” Referring to Alasaly, Mr McLachlan then put to him: “His hair is different, I think he’s shaved it off, but it was all curly. Is it fair to say he looks unmistakable with his hair like that?”
Zayd Alasaly is accused of the murder of Paul Foster(Image: Facebook)
Fields agreed “he looks distinctive like”, but asked whether Alasaly was in his vehicle, said: “I could not remember. I couldn’t be sure. I couldn’t tell you. That’s the God’s honest truth.”
Having been asked who the “first in” to the apartment was, Fields again said: “I couldn’t tell you, I can’t remember.” Questioned whether it “took some powering to get into the flat”, he replied: “No. I never touched anybody. I never touched anything.
“There was a scuffle. Foster’s fell to the floor. I’ve stepped over Foster. I’ve walked down the hallway, gone into the living room, walked round the living room, had a look, seen nothing there, went straight back out. He was lying on the floor, face down.”
When Mr McLachlan asked if he was armed with the knife, he responded “what knife?” before it was put to him that he was “not a stranger to being in possession of a knife”, having previously been convicted of wounding with intent in 2008 after stabbing another man in the chest in a pub toilet in London the previous year. This followed an incident between the then 32-year-old and the complainant, who suffered a punctured lung as a result of the assault, on the same premises “some days earlier”.
Fields said of this: “It was a long time ago. I struck someone with it after a confrontation. I had a confrontation on the Friday. I ended up sticking a knife in the guy on the Friday, and I got arrested on the Sunday. That’s what happened in 2005.
“When I got arrested on that, did I put my hands up and plead guilty to it straight away? Straight away, I put my hands up to that and admitted that. This situation now regarding Mr Foster was nothing to do with me. Let me rephrase it. I was there. It was my vehicle that took people there, but I never had no knife on me.
“Basically, the worst case scenario was meant to be a few bruises. I cannot accept knowledge or anything with the knife, because I never had the knife. I wouldn’t be putting four other people’s lives in danger, I’d own it and admit it like I did in 2005. I never had no knife. I didn’t know about the knife. I never travelled with a knife in my vehicle.”
Once again asked to name the fifth occupant of the car, Fields said “I could not tell you, because I fear for my life” but went on to deny knowing who this person was. The former taxi driver added: “I couldn’t tell you whether that person was black, white, pink, purple. I could have had Mr Tumble sitting in the back. Basically, there was another person sitting in the vehicle. I don’t know who that is.”
When Mr McLachlan pointed out that a mobile phone attributed to Alasaly had been shown co-locating with Fields’ car at the time of the stabbing, he said: “I understand his phone is running in tandem with my vehicle in certain areas. I can’t explain that. I didn’t see him in my vehicle.”
Again asked “whose idea” it had been to travel to Muirhead Avenue, Fields said: “Sarah asked me to run Dylan down the road to go and get some heroin. I can’t be arsed driving. She said, ‘come on, stop being tight, it’s only down the road’. We jumped in the car, and off we went. I didn’t know where I was going.”
Having stopped at a convenience store on Prescot Road in Old Swan en route, Fields added: “When she got back in the vehicle and we were going down, they were saying he’s a soft touch. [Kasseum said] that we was going to this lad’s and he’d be a pushover, we should rob him.
“It sort of went in one ear and out the other. Then I looked in the mirror. I seen the gun. I said ‘what the f***?’. I remember Dylan saying, ‘it’s not real’. I’m not 100 per cent sure who had the imitation firearm in the back of the vehicle. I’m more focussed on driving down the road than what’s going on behind me.”
Asked why he had agreed to participate in the robbery, Fields said “why not?” When Mr McLachlan put to him that it was “bad, going to rob someone with an imitation firearm”, he went on to state: “By law it is, but, at the end of the day, it was only drugs, and he was a drug user and we were drug users. It’s not that I think it’s OK, because it’s not.”
Fields was also asked whether he had spoken to the fifth person in his car, to which he replied: “No. I couldn’t tell you whether he was robbing, whether he was smoking, whether he was white, whether he was Asian, whether he was Russian, whether he was Polish.”
With Fields having gone on to tell the court that he had seen Blundell punching Mr Foster in the back in the flat, he added: “I didn’t see nothing in his hand. Dylan was fighting with Mr Foster, and someone else was fighting with Mr Foster. Dylan was swinging his arm over and punching him. After the swinging, I seen Foster fall on the floor. I was under the impression he might have got a punch and been knocked out.”
Abrahim, aged 61 and of Croxteth Road in Toxteth, 23-year-old Alasaly, of Corinto Street in Toxteth, 26-year-old Blundell, of Corsewall Street in Wavertree, 41-year-old Kasseum, of Lower Breck Road in Anfield, and 50-year-old Fields, of no fixed address, all deny murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Abrahim, Alasaly and Kasseum have also pleaded not guilty to robbery and carrying an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence.
Blundell and Fields, however, admit these two counts, with the latter having similarly pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The trial, before Judge Simon Medland KC, continues.