Day four of the trial into the death of sixteen year old Charley Bates in Radstock last year has heard from two of his friends who both told the court, there was no planned meeting or pre-arranged plan for a fight.

The day at Bristol Crown Court started by hearing, in person, from one of Char's friends, who said he had not known what was in a bag that was taken to the benches behind the town library on July 31.

Under cross examination by the defence counsel Charles Row KC he explained why he later told one of their friends to " get rid of it" , saying that he had assumed there was something in Char's rucksack which could be "something" - but he considered irrelevant to the case.

The bag was later found in nearby woods and contained a hunting knife and a BB gun.

The witness insisted he had never seen a knife in that bag, or anyone else carrying a knife that day and he had not even seen the defendant with a knife. " You never saw a knife from start to finish? Or on anyone at any time ? " asked the KC. " No" the witness told the court.

The jury has been told that Char and his friends were sitting on two benches in the park behind Radstock library when two cars pulled into the car park and a fight broke out between the dead teenager and someone known to him in one of the cars.

According to the first witness of the day, Delbono, who is now aged 19, was the last person to get involved in the altercation.

Later in video evidence from one of the teenage girls who was with the group in Radstock that day, police heard that the friends were just "chilling" after the holidays and the meet up only turned sour when Char spotted someone in one of the cars. " All I knew was that they did not like each other ," said the witness, adding that Charley was : " Not happy to let stuff go. " She said on video tape that someone from her group had said to Char as headed down to meet that person something along the lines of " Oh just don't bother," but they were ignored.

Following the fight she told the court she was not initially aware that Charl had been stabbed, but then he fell and when the friends turned him on his side he was covered in blood and another friend had tried to staunch the wound while they called 999.

She said the reason she had not mentioned Char's bag when she was first questioned, was that: " We were all so stressed ... and It honestly did not cross my mind that it had anything to do with what happened."

The trial of Joshua Delbono of Frome, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder Charley Bates in The Street in Radstock on July 31 2022, continues.