The mother of a 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a factory worker in a drunken attack today described to a jury how she reported her son to the police after seeing blood on his head.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she "put two and two together" after spotting the blood as she chased him down the street, Birmingham Crown Court was told.
Father-of-five Michael Eccles, 43, died on January 26, a day after sustaining serious injuries in a street attack just metres from his front door in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
Carl Keatley, 20, of Greencroft, Lichfield, and the 16-year-old boy from Lichfield, who cannot be identified, both deny murder.
Giving evidence, the teenage defendant's mother described how barefoot and wearing her dressing gown, she went looking for him after realising the drunk state he was.
She saw people crowded around Mr Eccles's body and then spotted her son with Keatley. The woman chased after the boy and noticed blood on his head.
She told the court: "I just put two and two together and I thought I would telephone the police. I just thought he must have been involved."
When asked what she told police, she replied: "Something along the lines of 'I think my son has assaulted somebody'."
The jury has been told that Mr Eccles was "punched and kicked and stamped upon" by Keatley and the youth, who was 15 years old at the time.
Prosecutor Gareth Evans QC said the pair chased Mr Eccles as he made his way home from a Costcutter store in the Dimbles area of the city on the evening of January 25, having bought a bottle of wine and some milk.
One witness, who was driving in the area at the time, said that he saw Mr Eccles being kicked like a football. When asked to describe the kick in a police interview, Michael Tilletson said: "It was like a football. I think it was just like a football thing to his face."
The Crown alleges the teenager's father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, tried to help his son "cover up" the crime by washing blood from his hair and putting his clothes in the washing machine following the alleged attack.
The 55-year-old man denies perverting the course of justice.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.
