A GRIEF-stricken mother burst into tears and ran sobbing from a courtroom as a jury was told how her teenage son was stabbed to death.

Five Bristol men are accused of murdering 17-year-old Robert 'Junior' Spence and the attempted murder of his friend, Emmanuel Connor, 23, on May 2 last year.

They are Carlton Miles, 28, of Bridge Street, Eastville; Jemal Powell, 28, of Thicket Road, Fishponds; Nicholas Olu, 30, of Sydenham Road, Totterdown; Leon Wilson, 32, of Firfield Road, Windmill Hill; and David Brooks, 33, of no fixed address.

They all deny the charges.

As prosecuting barrister Ian Acheson described the attack on the teenager, his mother, Sandra Spence wept as she left the public gallery where she had been listening intently with friends and family.

The jury at Reading Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of someone dressed in white making "numerous stabbing motions" towards the ground following an incident in St Mary's Butts, in Reading, where Robert was knifed 16 times.

Mr Acheson alleged the man dressed in white, who was shown making around six stabbing motions, was defendant Nicholas Olu.

He told the court: "The prosecution suggests that you can see the figure in white moving the left arm up and down towards something.

"The prosecution submits to you that white figure was Mr Olu and at that point, he was stabbing at someone who was on or near the ground. You have visible on screen someone stabbing downwards six or more times."

Mr Acheson said Mr Connor would tell jurors how he saw a group of men advancing towards him and his friends. One was armed with a samurai sword, another with a butterfly knife and others with smaller blades.

He told the court Mr Connor had only returned to St Mary's Butts just moments before the pair were stabbed, after getting a lift to a casino near Reading.

Mr Acheson said when Mr Connor realised he had forgotten his friend Marsden Stoute, he returned to the Butts and found he had been hit with a bottle and was bleeding.

He said: "Emmanuel Connor was angered by this and was shouting 'who done this?' challenging whoever did it to come forward. As he did that, a line of five men came towards Marsden Stoute and himself, and he noticed each of them had a knife."

Mr Acheson told the jury that Robert threw a punch at a member of the advancing group, fell over and was pinned down and stabbed repeatedly.

The trial continues.