A TEENAGE witness has refuted claims she covered up for her ex-boyfriend over his involvement in the assault that left Jock Straiton severely injured, a court has heard.

The 16-year-old girl, told Chester Crown Court on Monday that she had seen Nigel Goolding and Joshua Spruce, both 20, kick Mr Straiton ‘like a football’ in the early hours of July 26 last year.

She told the court that her former boyfriend, Paul Blower, had not been involved in the kicking of Mr Straiton – who later died in hospital – and had in fact urged his two friends to stop because he was an old man.

She was being sick at the side of the road at the time of the alleged attack.

Stephen Meadowcroft, defending on behalf of Nigel Goolding, said that the girl had had so much to drink – five bottles of blue WKD – that she was lying on her back on the pavement on Park Road and swearing loudly causing a distrurbance.

The girl denied these claims.

She said she wanted justice for Mr Straiton and was not covering up for anyone – pointing out to the court that she had known Spruce since childhood and Goolding through her cousin.

Mr Meadowcroft referred to text messages sent by the girl to Blower which suggested that despite breaking up two weeks prior to the incident she still loved him.

The girl said that after being with Blower for three years she just couldn’t turn her feelings for him ‘on and off’.

The trial continues.