‘Jealous brother lied about murder confession’

An alleged killer accused of murdering a civil servant in an alleyway told police the younger brother who claimed he had confessed to the killing was jealous of him, a court heard.

Real ale enthusiast Anthony Littler, 45, died from ‘catastrophic’ head injuries after he was attacked near East Finchley Tube station in north London on 1 May 1984 after a night out with fellow beer drinkers.

Police and ambulance services were eventually called at around 12:50am, but Mr Littler was already dead.

Michael Stewart, now 57 but then a 15-year-old schoolboy, denies carrying out the murder with others including his older brother 60-year-old Anthony, who was a council binman at the time.

Michael had dialled 999 anonymously shortly after the assault but the call was flagged as a ‘false alarm’ as he did not give them enough information to find the victim.

He is said to have repeatedly confessed to the killing over the years but the brothers were not arrested until their younger brother Daniel Stewart reported them to police in 2013.

In police interview Michaal claimed that Daniel had told him that ‘Tony and his mates hurt someone in an alleyway.’

He said: ‘The story goes Tony got grabbed by this guy and one of the others hit him on the head with a crash helmet.’

He said he did not know the man had died.

Michael said he knew someone had been killed in the alleyway but never made the connection.

‘It weren’t nothing to do with me I just got on with my sh-tty f–k off life,’ he said.

He said he was not aware of Anthony going ‘robbing’ or ‘gay bashing’.

Asked why he did not tell police what Daniel had said earlier, Michael said: ‘Because the way I look at it even though I’ve got a f—-ed up family they’re my brothers and they, you know what I mean, you don’t f—ing grass on your own.’

He said he decided to tell police because he did not want to go to prison while his mother was ill.

Michael denied showing an ex-girlfriend where the murder happened saying he never took her to East Finchley.

Referring to Daniel, he said: ‘My brother can manipulate people.’

He said his brother had repeatedly got him into trouble with the police for no reason.

‘My brother was jealous of me,’ he said.

‘It’s bad having a s–tty family sometimes you want to curl up in corner and cry about it but you can’t pick your family can you.’

Michael said he slept rough and went into care as a teen before getting a council flat with his brother.

Michael Stewart, of Station Road, New Barnet, and Anthony Stewart, of Old Farm Road, Finchley, both deny murder.

The trial continues.
ends