AN ALLEGED murderer tried to recruit an 11-year-old boy to help him rob a man of a £11,000 Rolex watch.

Giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court the schoolboy told how he was approached by a man, said to be Lewis Peake, who who pointed out victim Steven McMyler sitting outside a pub.

The boy said he and his friend were offered £100 each to "batter" him.

Questioned by Mark Ford QC, the boy said he and his friend were in Wigan town centre on between 6pm and 6.30pm on August 6 last year when a man shouted out to them.

The boy said they were asked: "Do you want to earn some money? I'd like you to batter that man over there. I'll give you a hundred quid coz I want his watch."

The jury was told that the man showed them the cash which he had stuffed inside his sock.

"We were scared of what he could do to us so we just said, 'yeah'," said the boy.

The schoolboy added that the man told him he was going to take the victim to the nearby church gardens and would give them a signal.

READ MORE: Little Lever man on trial for murder

The boy told how they then saw the two men taking drugs together in Wigan Parish Church gardens.

Frightened about what he was being asked to do, the boy said he approached a man and a woman near Betfred.

"I asked them to do it for me because I was scared. I didn't think there was any other way out of it," he said.

But the people he approached refused and walked off.

The boy added that, back in the church gardens, the man told the boys he would give them 10 minutes to go and get others to help carry out the assault.

As the boys left they saw four other people walking from the railway station towards church gardens.

A short time later, after hearing an air ambulance, the boy said he and his friend went back to the church gardens. Lewis Peake, the man who tried to recruit them was gone and 34-year-old Steven McMyler was dead on the ground.

Four people are on trial in relation to Mr McMyler's death. Each denies murder, manslaughter and conspiracy to rob.

They are: Lewis Peake, aged 30, of James Street, Little Lever; Michael Wilson, aged 20, of Northfield Close Kirkby; a 17-year-old youth and a 14-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons.

A fifth man, Jordan Short, aged 19 of Rushey Hey Road, Kirkby, has been charged with the same offences but will be tried at a later date as he is unwell.

The trial continues