A teenager accused of murdering a boy at a Birmingham bus stop threatened to stab him in the eye just weeks before the attack, a court heard today.

Odwayne Barnes, 16, was stabbed through the heart in what is believed to have been a gang-related attack in the city centre.

Nathaniel Darby, 20, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murdering Odwayne outside Matthew Boulton College in the city on March 7.

Leah Solomons, a teenager who lived in the same house as Odwayne, told the jury that he received a threatening phone call from the 17-year-old defendant in the weeks before the attack.

"Odwayne told me that (the defendant) said that him and his people were going to stab him in the eye," she said.

"Odwayne didn’t say he was going to do anything about it. I don’t think he believed it."

Birmingham Crown Court earlier heard that during police interviews, the 17-year-old defendant claimed to be a member of a gang called the "Slash Crew" or "Slash for Money Crew", and said he had previously fallen out with Odwayne, who was a member of a rival gang called "Bang Bang".

Yesterday 18-year-old Damien Belle, of Heathway, Shard End, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to the murder, and will be sentenced at the end of the trial.

Lucien Darby, 18, is also on trial, accused of cleaning a Volkswagen Polo belonging to his brother Nathaniel in an attempt to destroy incriminating scientific evidence.

He denies attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The case was adjourned until 10am tomorrow, and the defendants remanded in custody.