THE alleged killer of teenager Luke Harwood threatened to murder another man if he didn't help clean up the bloodstains, a court has heard.
Billy Duggan, 21, said he believed he was next after James Danby, 27, allegedly kicked and stamped 18-year-old Luke to death.
Duggan played no part in the attack on Luke at a council house in Crow Lane, Romford, but he was taken to the scene and was so horrified by what he saw that he threw up.
He told an Old Bailey jury on Thursday: "I honestly thought Danby would kill me the same way he killed Luke.
"That's what he had said to me."
The court heard that Danby attacked Luke after a woman wrongly claimed he had raped her.
After allegedly beating him at the house, it is claimed Danby took Luke to a field off Broadmead Road, in Woodford Green, where his head was stamped on so severely it flattened "like a marshmallow".
Duggan said he was told to help clean up the bloodstains from Luke's room at the house and complied because he was so terrified of Danby.
"There was blood on a corner of the mattress," he recalled. "I was ordered to clean the corner of the bed."
Asked why he did not run away, he replied: "I was never out of that man's sight. Everywhere I went he was there also. I would not have made it to the front door – I know that for a fact."
Duggan said he was driven to the scene by Emma Hall, 21, accompanied by Danby and Tony O'Toole, 29.
At the scene he said he saw Luke's body under a mattress several yards away.
"All I could see was an arm hanging out one side of the mattress and his feet hanging out the bottom," Duggan told the court.
"Jay pointed out a massive patch of blood on the floor. You could see brain."
He said Danby told him that was where he had stamped on Luke's head.
He added: "He started to laugh and joke about it. I looked away and started to vomit."
Duggan said previously he was not sure whether Luke was really dead but "that's when it hit me," he told the court.
He said they went back to Crow Lane but he claimed Danby wanted to go back to the body to cut off Luke's fingers and pull out his teeth.
"He was laughing and joking about cutting Luke's head off," said Duggan.
"It was horrific. It was something I didn't want to do."
It is alleged that Danby took three kitchen knives and later collected several pairs of pliers and they got in the car again.
Duggan claimed Danby then put a knife to his face and warned: "I'm going to kill you."
But on the journey they were stopped by the police and arrested.
"I was relieved," said Duggan. "I did start crying and that when I was in the police van.
"Part of me was happy to be away from James, knowing this man cannot get to me and do the things he said."
Danby, Hall, O'Toole and Jovan Roberts, 28, all deny murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Hall, Danby, O'Toole, Duggan and Khalid Hassan, 20, all deny perverting the course of justice.
All the defendants lived at the bungalow in Crow Lane.
The trial continues.
