A TEENAGER chased a man, kicked and stamped on his head and left him dying in a pool of blood after his cousin was called ‘fat’, a jury heard.

Christopher Folkes, 36, was seen running through Queen’s Park, Blackburn, with an Asian youth closely following who was shouting and swearing, Preston Crown Court was told.

The prosecution said Mr Folkes was then kicked in the chest, stomach and arms before his head was stamped on and kicked “like a football”.

Mr Folkes suffered a fractured left eye socket, a fractured cheekbone, fractured upper jaw and trauma to the brain.

He died in hospital the next day from ‘severe head injuries’.

A 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of Mr Folkes’ murder. He denies the charge.

Yesterday his trial began at Preston Crown Court, with prosecutor Francis McEntee outlining the crown’s case.

He told the jury that a couple walking their dog between 8pm and 9pm on May 30, witnessed events close to the boating lake on the park.

Mr Folkes had just phoned his mum to tell her he was on his way round, the jury heard.

According to the prosecution, the youth on trial told his ex-girlfriend the ‘fight’ had happened because someone called his cousin a ‘fat b******’.

Mr McEntee said the couple noticed a group of six or seven Asian youths and four white youths drinking on an embankment.

“Christopher Folkes was first seen by witnesses running from the area where the group of youths were seen, looking over his shoulder,” Mr McEntree said.

“He was shouting, ‘I don’t even know you’ to the Asian youth who was shouting back ‘Don’t call me bro – I’m not your f****** brother’.

He had his fists clenched and tried a number of times to punch him and sweep his legs.

“Finally he did and Christopher Folkes rolled on his side and held open his palms.

“What followed was a sustained assault on a clearly defenceless man.”

The prosecution claim Mr Folkes suffered kicks to his chest and arms, “hard” kicks to his stomach and then when his hands lowered, kicks to his face with “full force’” which “rocked his head back”.

Mr McEntee said the youth was then seen to drag an “unconscious or semi-conscious” Mr Folkes by the ankles close to the lake and “began to stamp and kick upon his head like a football”.

“The kicks were delivered with force, stepping back and stepping forward to kick as hard as he could.”

Another witness, one of the teenager’s friends, arrived on the scene to warn him, “stop, leave him alone. You’ll get into trouble”, but described his friend lifting his leg two-foot up into the air before stamping down another three times.

It is alleged that after the attack, the youth bragged to pals he had won a fight with a white lad around his own age.

The prosecution also claims that he made admissions to his former partner in texts and calls on May 30 and 31, that he “had killed someone in a one-on-one fight, but had not intended to”.

During the opening, Mr McEntee said the jury would hear evidence that the teen discarded his clothes, contained in a Morrisons carrier bag, into a charity bin at a Mosque in Chester Street, the day after the incident.

It was recovered by people collecting for the charity and forensic tests show blood on a pair of Adidas trainers matched Christopher Folkes’ and that blood spatter on the inside hem of a pair of jeans was ‘consistent with stamping into wet blood’.

Toxicology tests on Mr Folkes showed he had diazepam and methadone in his system, but the prosecution say his heroin addiction did not contribute to his death.

Proceeding.