A MOTORIST held back tears as he described to the Old Bailey the moment he saw Nicholas Pearton stabbed next to his car.

Nicholas was stabbed to death aged 16 on May 5 last year after being chased through Home Park Recreation Ground in Sydenham.

Six boys, aged 14 to 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are on trial at the Old Bailey charged with his murder.

Richard Gordon was driving along Sydenham Road and had stopped at traffic lights. He noticed Nicholas running from the park, followed by a second person.

He said: "By the time the other youth caught up with Nick they were by my right wing of my car, on the driver's side. Nick then stopped or slowed down and turned to face the other youth who was close to him at that point."

He added: "They were both by the front right wing and Nick turned and stopped and as he turned around the other youth swung for him what I initially thought was punch.

"And then there was some movement with both of the boys and they moved from being in front of my car to being parallel with the rear of my car on my side."

Edward Brown, prosecuting, asked Mr Gordon about the movement of the attacker.

Mr Gordon said: "He raised his arm shoulder level, his arm was outstretched and he just hit Nick in the back, I noticed there was a cut mark on his (Nick's) right shoulder blade."

He added: "After I saw the cut I asked myself what happened, was it a stab. I didn't see any blood.

"Then I looked for a knife in the hand of the second youth and he was holding a knife and it was covered in blood."

The jurors heard that it looked like a kitchen knife with a seven or eight inch blade.

Mr Gordon said: "There seemed to be a slight stand off. The attacker held his arms out to the side with the knife in one hand and said "what"."

At that point the lights changed and Mr Gordon moved his car forward and pulled over.

He said: "The next thing I saw was a third youth coming from the same direction as the first and second.

"He ran straight across the road and jumped up and kicked the door of the chicken shop. At that point I worked out or realized that Nick had made it into the chicken shop."

He added: "He just ran across the road at full speed and jumped with both feet off the ground and kicked the chicken shop."

The following day Mr Gordon noticed patches of blood on the front wing mirror of his car. He took photographs of it and then washed it off.

He gave the pictures and the sponge to the police.

The trial continues.