He pointed out that in interview Wood claims Jordan was stabbed three times to the front of his chest in the region of the heart, apparently at a time he was lying on his back on the mattress.
There were no stab wounds to Jordan’s chest, with the fatal stab wound inflicted on his back.
Mr Cummings is now taking the jury forward to the end of February.
Mr Cummings said on January 5 a blood stained pair of shorts were found under a bed at Wood’s address in Elephant Lane, Thatto Heath, by a relative. They were handed to a police officer that day.
The jury is also told a woman named Leanne Brereton was asked by Steven Wood, a cousin of the defendant, to store something in her garage.
She told a friend who became suspicious, and the police were contacted.
Mr Cummings said a bin bag containing items of men’s clothing, which appeared to have been burned, were recovered by officers.
The jury is now being talked through evidence from scientific experts, who found DNA samples at the scene from the three defendants and the victim.
Wiltshire then allegedly told Wood that they had to “set fire to the flat and burn it out.”
He claimed Wiltshire put a dark piece of clothing under Jordan’s head and set it alight.
Wood then said all the defendant’s went to Hoather’s mother’s address and then to his sister Martika Hoather, where they stood in the back garden because she was not in.
Wood claimed Wiltshire then produced the red-handled knife from his shorts and “was bragging” about it.
Mr Cummings said: “The defendant said he did not report what happened because he was afraid. He accepted he washed clothing at his mother’s house but maintained that not of the items were bloodstained or otherwise related to Jordan Campbell’s murder. He denied disposing of any items or clothing for Hoather or Wiltshire.”
The jury is now being told the pathologist looked at Wood’s statement and “identified a number of inconsistencies.”
Wood claimed his recollection is vague owing to his alcohol and drug consumption.
The jury heard Wood claimed in his interview that he tried to protect Jordan by putting his arm around him and putting his leg out in front of him.
Mr Cummings said the next thing Wood claimed to remember is a “commotion” in the back bedroom, which he went to investigate.
He said Jordan was lying on his back on a mattress, which was on the floor, and according to him Hoather and Wiltshire were standing either side of him, both kicking and stamping on his head.
Wood then claimed he tried to intervene and stop the attack, and claims to have lifted Jordan up.
Mr Cummings said Wood claimed Jordan was “heavy and lifeless” but he thought he was still breathing at this point.
Mr Cummings said: “The next moment Wiltshire left the room for a matter of seconds and returned with a large red handled kitchen knife in his hand, which he then used to stab Jordan Campbell three times in the left side of his chest area.
“The defendant said he was shocked and sickened by this, and went to leave the room, but as he did so he noticed Ruben Hoather behind him holding a small black handled kitchen knife. The defendant then left the room altogether.”
Mr Cummings said Wood claimed he saw Wiltshire pulling Jordan Campbell by his feet from the back bedroom into the front bedroom, and could see the trail of blood on the floor.
In police interviews he denied any involvement in the murder of Jordan Campbell, although he confirmed he was present in Tickle Avenue at the time of the murder and that he had been in the company of Hoather and Wiltshire.
Mr Cummings tells the jury that he also admitted lying in his statement and the reason he lied and he had falsely slept through everything was that “he was scared.”
Mr Cummings said: “Wood said that at about 8.30am on New Year’s Morning, he was present in the flat when Ruben Hoather was having a go at Michaela Hoather for not having made sufficient effort in relation to the party for his prison release and for New Year.
“The argument resulted in Hoather telling Michaela to leave the flat, which she did with the 14 year old boy.
“The defendant said that he then went into the living room and sat on the settee with Jordan, who seemed tired and was neither aggressive nor confrontational.
“Ruben Hoather, according to the defendant, then began to call Jordan Campbell a nonce, prison slang for a sex offender. Wiltshire then, for no reason, punched Jordan in the face several times, as did Hoather.”
Mr Cummings said the following day Wood washed a quantity of clothing, including two pairs of trainers, at his mother’s address in Elephant Lane. He was later asked to leave by his mother’s partner.
The Jury are being told that evening Wood visited a friend of his, Beverley Frost, at 8pm that night, who had left word for him to get in touch as she knew that he had nowhere to stay.
Mr Cummings said: “According to her he broke down in tears and was really upset. The account he gave her was that he had been awakened on New Year’s morning by two lads who told him that they had “battered” another lad and they had to leave the flat as a result.
“He never said anything about anyone being stabbed or about any fires being set. Later that evening a police officer called to say that the defendant was now wanted in relation to the murder, and that there were “holes in his statement.
“Ladies and gentlemen there were indeed holes in his statement.”
The court heard he then decided with Ms Frost to hand himself in to police.
In the statement, he indicated that he had attended the party in Tickle Avenue and had at some stage “crashed out” on a settee, with the victim asleep on the settee next to him.
Mr Cummings said: “The next thing he knew, according to what he said in the statement, he was being woken by Ruben Hoather, who was telling him to come on.
“He immediately smelled smoke, but could not see where it was coming from and nor could he see where Jordan Campbell was, although Daniel Wiltshire was there.
“Both Wiltshire and Hoather were acting a bit weird and Wiltshire was saying “we’ve battered him, we’ve battered him.”
Wood told police he then went with Wiltshire and Hoather to Hoather’s mother’s address in Greenbank Crescent, and then to Martika Hoather’s address in Borough Road.
He said noone was in so Hoather and Wiltshire left by taxi and he went to his mother’s home, before going to visit his cousin Steven Wood for “no particular reason.”
That was the content of the first witness statement.
The court is now hearing about Wood’s activities the following day.
The court hears the knife had passed “completely through Jordan’s left lung and caused it to collapse. It also damaged the aorta artery causing “catastrophic bleeding” in the chest cavity.
The pathologist also found six other, less serious incised wounds. Two to the right hand, three to the lower right leg or foot and one to the left thigh. There was also “significant” facial bruising.
Mr Cummings said: “Overall, the pathologist concluded that the victim had been subjected to a violent assault that involved forceful blows to his face and multiple stabs to his body.
“The injuries to the right hand were defensive in nature and indicated the victim was conscious during at least part of this assault.”
The prosecution claims the fires had been started “probably in an effort to obscure the injuries and destroy the body.”
Police attended Wood’s mother’s address in Elephant Lane at 7.45pm on New Year’s Day. He was not there initially but attended later with his partner Michaela Hoather. He was taken to St Helen’s Police Station to provide a statement.
The court heard Wood was not being treated as a suspect at this point.
Mr Cummings said: “On arrival there, it was noted that the defendant had a small fresh looking cut on a knuckle on his left hand.
“He was asked how he sustained that injury, and replied that he had done it getting out of the van.”
Mr Cummings said that around 12.50pm that day, as a result of information received, police attended Hoather’s flat in Tickle Avenue to carry out a check at the premises.
He said: “Having knocked and got no reply, the officer tried the door and found it to be insecure. As he opened it, thick smoke began to escape from the flat into the communal hallway. The officer then called the fire service and set about evacuating the adjoining flats
“A short while later, the fire service attended and carried out a search of the flat, where they found the body of Jordan Campbell lying face down on the floor of one of the bedrooms. A paramedic attended and formally confirmed that life was extinct.”
He said mattresses in each of the two bedrooms had been deliberately set fire to, and there had been attempts to burn the body by setting fire to clothing placed on top.
The body also appeared to have been moved to the position it was found by being dragged by the feet.
A pathologist attended the scene and examined Jordan’s body, before it was taken to a hospital mortuary for a post mortem to be carried out.
Mr Cummings says the fatal wound was a deep stab wound to the back of the chest.
Mr Cummings tell the jury that around 10.30am Ruben Hoather, Daniel Wiltshire and Anthony Wood all attended Hayley Scott’s home. She could see her son Ruben was was drunk and had “some kind of graze or bruise” to the left side of his chin. She told them to leave, which they did.
Meanwhile the current defendant, Anthony Wood, was spoken to by PC Louise Edwards at around 11.20am that day, in the Thatto Heath area of St Helens.
Mr Cummings says she stopped Wood walking down a footpath and noticed a “mild smell of cannabis” coming from his clothing.
She activated her body camera and searched Wood for drugs, but did not find any.
Mr Cummings says: “She asked Wood where he had spent New Year’s Eve, and he said just at my mum’s and my mate’s. In fact the defendant had not visited his mother’s address at all on the evening of December 31.
“The officer also asked if he had spent New Year with Ruben Hoather given that he had just got out of prison. The defendant said yeah, he’s just got out.
“The officer then asked if he had a good party with Ruben, to which he replied “I didn’t even see him, me,” before quickly changing the subject to the weather and how cold it was.
The jury are now being told about the horrific circumstances in which Jordan’s body was found
Mr Cummings said: “The call lasted 1m and 55s, and during it she thought that Jordan sounded happy, and sounded like he was at a party as she could hear people in the background.
“She also thought he seemed to be off his head on something. At one point, Jordan put Ruben Hoather on the phone, and Hoather said to her, you don’t like me do you? and she confirmed that she did not.
“Jordan then came back on the phone and told his mother he would see her in a bit, and she said bye, and that was the last time that they ever spoke to one another.”
The court hears Jordan also sent text messages to his sister Naomi saying “you up sis?” and “Ring me”, as well as questions about her baby.
She initially thought the messages were from another sister, as she did not recognise the number, but the court is told the number was actually Jordan’s.
She sent the last of her replies at 9.19am and having heard nothing back sent further texts around 9.24am.
Mr Cummings is recapping the points made this morning for the jury.
The jury hears that shortly after 9am Jordan’s mother, Kerry Birch, phoned her son on his mobile as he had not returned that night. She also received a text from Jordan saying “Call me.”
The chilling last phone call between mother and son is being described to the jury.
Proceedings are due to get underway again shortly – here’s our report from this morning
He said Wood, Hoather and Wiltshire were “all drunk” and that both Hoather and the defendant were “visibly angry” and had an argument.
He said in interview that the victim was not causing any problems at all and did not appear drunk.
Mr Cummings said police were told: “He was just tired and sprawled out on the couch.”
The court heard the boy left the flat in Tickle Avenue with Michaela Hoather about 8.30am on New Year’s morning, which meant only Hoather, Wiltshire, the defendant Wood and Jordan Campbell were present.
Mr Cummings: “There came a point where it came down to the victim Jordan Campbell and the three men eventually charged with his murder present at the flat.”
Mr Cummings has paused his opening, for the court’s break at 1pm.
The trial will resume at 2pm.
“Following this, Ruben Hoather directed verbal abuse at Jordan Howarth, the girlfriend of his half brother Morgan Connor, which led to a scuffle between Hoather and Connor.
““It is only fair to say that the present defendant assisted in breaking up this fight by restraining Hoather.”
It was around about this time the eventual victim, Jordan Campbell, arrived at the party.
Some of the partygoers then left, and there came a time when the only people remaining in the flat were Ruben Hoather, Daniel Wiltshire, Michaela Hoather, Anthony Wood, the 14-year-old boy and the victim, Jordan Campbell.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was interviewed by police on January 2.
He said that he had told the defendant to “calm down” because Wood had “kicked off on him.”
Others attended and, by about midnight, those present at 107 Tickle Avenue were: Ruben Hoather, Michaela Hoather, the defendant Anthony Wood, a 14-year-old boy, Daniel Wiltshire, Martika Hoather, her boyfriend Steven Whittle who is a cousin of the defendant, Morgan Connor (a half brother of the Hoathers) and his girlfriend Jordan Howarth.
The court hears Wiltshire and Hoather were friends from prison.
The pair were seen to be behaving aggressively at the party, at one point brandishing kitchen knives.
Mr Cummings says: “At another point, in the early hours of the morning, Ruben Hoather and Daniel Wiltshire were away from the flat briefly, during which times they confronted and chased a man in the street.
The court hears some time in October 2014, Hoather received a prison sentence and the flat was occupied while he was in prison by Michaela Hoather, and the current defendant Wood.
Hoather was released from prison on New Year’s Eve 2014, a Wednesday.
Mr Cummings says he was due to be collected at the prison gates by Wiltshire, Michaela Hoather, Wood and a teenage boy.
The group then visited shops in St Helens town centre where Ruben Hoather bought new clothes before going to his mother Hayley Scott’s address, where there was a belated Christmas Lunch.
At about 2.30pm, the group left Hayley Scott’s house and went to a supermarket to buy alcohol for a New Year’s Eve party planned that night at Hoather’s flat in Tickle Avenue.
In the hours that followed most of the group consumed alcohol and took drugs, including cocaine and cannabis. This continued into the evening.
Hoather’s two sisters, Martika Hoather and Michaela Hoather, will also be mentioned throughout the case.
Michaela Hoather is the partner of the defendant Anthony Wood, the jury are told.
The court hears Daniel Joseph Wiltshire, 25, of Wargrave Road, Newton-le-Willows, and Ruben Thomas Hoather, 22, of Tickle Avenue in Parr, St Helens have already pleaded guilty to murder.
Hoather was a cousin of Jordan Campbell’s and lived in a flat in Tickle Avenue, Parr.
He has started by talking the jury through the persons who will be named in the case.
He said: “This case concerns the murder of a young man named Jordan Campbell, who died on New Year’s Day this year. He was 17 years old.
“The prosecution say that Jordan Campbell was murdered by three men, and that the present defendant Anthony Wood was one of them. The other two have already pleaded guilty hence there is no need for them to be in the dock at present.
“The defendant has pleaded not guilty to this charge, and it will be for you to say as a jury to say at the end of the trial whether he is guilty or not.
“The defendant was also charged with a second offence, being perverting the course of public justice, arising out of lies that he told in a witness statement that he gave to investigating police officers, before he became a suspect. To that charge he has pleaded guilty and you will not be asked to return a verdict on it.”
The judge is finishing his instructions to the jury, and hopefully proceedings will get underway shortly.
Mr Cummings will begin the trial by outlining the events leading up to Jordan’s murder, according to the Crown.