Manslaughter accused claims alleged victim 'tried to assault him' before punch which led to fatal wounds, trial hears

A man accused of manslaughter claimed the alleged victim 'tried to assault him' after telling him: "Don't walk behind me lad", a trial has heard.

Oscar Shepherd, 20, is on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court accused of the unlawful killing of Joseph Henderson, 53.

The court previously heard that Mr Henderson was walking along Wilmslow Road when Mr Shepherd caught up to him in August last year.

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Mr Henderson stepped to one side to allow him to pass in a bid to 'maintain social distancing', but seconds later he was allegedly punched in the face, and fell backwards, hitting the back of his head, it was said.

Eight days later he died as a result of the impact to his brain, the court heard.

Mr Shepherd, of Crumpsall, has pleaded not guilty to an offence of manslaughter.

On day two of the trial, Mr Shepherd gave evidence from the witness box.

He told jurors that he had lost his job as a labourer at The Woodlands, in Heaton Mersey, earlier on in the day (August 12 last year), and had been making various calls to other agencies to try and obtain work.

Mr Shepherd said he was walking along Wilmslow Road at around 5pm and was walking 'quite fast' when he came up to Mr Henderson.

"I came up to Mr Henderson who stopped me, he was quite aggressive and he said: 'Don’t walk behind me lad'," he said.

"I was a bit shocked, a bit baffled. I didn’t feel like I did anything like that for him to talk to me in that way.

"I was quite close to him. He had quite an aggressive face as well. I just said: 'what' to him with a baffled face.

"I tried to show I didn’t respond aggressively to him, I was a few steps in front of