A TEENAGER accused of murdering Reece Tansey claims he did not see his friend stabbing the schoolboy with a knife because he has poor eyesight.

Giving evidence in his own defence at Manchester Crown Court, the 15-year-old, who can only be identified as Boy B, stated that at no stage did he know his 15-year-old co-accused, Boy A, had a knife.

Harper Green School pupil Reece died a short time after being stabbed six times during a fight in Walker Avenue, Great Lever in the early hours of May 4.

Boy B told a jury how he followed Boy A, who was chasing 15-year-old Reece down the street and saw him catch and punch him.

Boy A admits he had a large kitchen knife in his left hand at the time and stabbed Reece, but cross-examined by Mark Ford QC, for the prosecution, Boy B denied he had seen it.

“It was in the distance and I have pretty bad eyes,” says Boy B, who added that he was not wearing his glasses that night.

Mr Ford pointed out that Boy B, when he made a statement to police about his involvement in the incident, had not mentioned this.

The court heard how Boys A and B had arranged, via Snapchat messages, to have a fight that night.

Boy B said that Boy A was to fight Reece and he mentioned that he was going to film it.

But he told the court that when they met up, the battery in his phone failed.

“Are you making this up because there’s no evidence of you filming the fight?” said Mr Ford.

Boy B denied the suggestion but said he did not know why he kept the phone in his hand even though it was not working.

Police investigation support officer Stuart Hynes told the jury that he has compared CCTV clips of Boy B that evening and concluded that the object the teenager had in his hand in Walker Avenue that evening was not a mobile phone.

Boy A has previously told the jury that Reece first ran away from them because he saw Boy B pulling a knife out.

But Boy B claims his friend is lying and he never had a knife on him.

In his evidence last week Boy A told how, after the fight, as he and Boy B walked home together, he filmed himself with the blood-covered knife and then buried the weapon in mud by Doe Hey Brook.

But Boy B told the court Boy A was behind him when he saw a flash which could have been from a mobile phone, but he never saw the teenager with a weapon.

The court was shown CCTV of Boy B running down Walker Avenue with his hands down by his side and Mr Ford asked him why he was running in that manner.

“I can’t really explain but I was trying to put my phone in my pocket,” said Boy B.

He denied Mr Ford’s suggestion that it was a knife that he was trying to put into his pocket.

At one stage in the fight between Reece and Boy A they ended up in the front garden of a house but Boy B told the court that he did not follow because the householders might wake up and “grab” him.

He denied he was excited by the fight and told the court that he was seen hopping around on CCTV footage as he was trying to get a better view.

The teenager told the court that he had a knife picture in his Snapchat profile as a tribute to musician SJ from drill band OFB, because he liked his music and not because he admired him.

The artist is currently in jail after stabbing a teenager to death.

The trial continues.