In a quiet Chelmsford neighborhood, what started as a normal afternoon walk with a dog turned into a scene of horror.
Thirty-year-old Kieran Shepherd was chased down, stabbed, and left for dead in broad daylight on Meadgate Avenue, Great Baddow, last October.
CCTV Shows the Start of the Attack
Jurors were told the attack unfolded around 12:24 pm on October 15, 2024.
CCTV shows Shepherd with his dog before being ambushed by three young men—Joseph Dawe, Zack O’Keeffe, and Harrison Carpenter—who allegedly called themselves the “Three Musketeers.”
Prosecutors said Shepherd was stabbed twice, the blows piercing his lung and heart.
A Cleaner Discovers the Dying Victim
Six minutes after the stabbing, a cleaner named Holly Duffett stumbled upon Shepherd’s body while working nearby.
She dialed 999, desperately reassuring him as he lay silent and gravely wounded.
Despite her efforts, paramedics pronounced him dead at 1:22 pm.
The Defendants Plead Not Guilty
All three men, aged 20, have pleaded not guilty to murder. O’Keeffe told the court he had “panicked” during the confrontation and insisted he had no idea his actions would prove fatal.
He claimed he acted in self-defense, believing his life—and his friends’ lives—were in danger.
O’Keeffe’s Account of the Rivalry
O’Keeffe admitted that he had sold cocaine to Shepherd months before the incident.
He told jurors that a later drug deal turned tense when Shepherd allegedly pulled a knife.
He claimed Shepherd later threatened them, saying they would “get it.”
On the day of the stabbing, O’Keeffe said he hadn’t been seeking out Shepherd, but that the victim shouted at them, warning that his dog bites.
The Chase and Fatal Stabbing
According to O’Keeffe, the situation escalated quickly.
He told jurors he saw Carpenter on top of Shepherd and noticed a knife on the ground, which he believed Shepherd had dropped.
He claimed he swung the knife in panic, not realizing he had struck Shepherd. Prosecutors, however, said Shepherd was stabbed in the back with such force that the blade pierced his heart and exited the other side.
Prosecutors Argue Joint Responsibility
Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told the court that while only one person may have delivered the fatal stab wounds, all three men should be held accountable under joint enterprise.
She argued they acted together in a joint attack, noting they even referred to themselves as the “Three Musketeers.”
Witness Accounts Paint a Darker Picture
Cleaner Holly Duffett told jurors she had seen three men fleeing after the attack, one of them slipping a “massive knife” into his trousers.
Carpenter’s girlfriend, Olivia McElvaney, also gave a statement, saying she believed she saw blood on Carpenter’s jeans and a knife being passed around in the car.
She also recalled the men talking about burning clothes afterward.
Aftermath and Arrests
Prosecutors said the trio went into nearby woods and later stayed at a caravan in Clacton-on-Sea.
Carpenter eventually handed himself in the next day, but O’Keeffe and Dawe weren’t tracked down until two days later.
According to McElvaney’s police statement, O’Keeffe admitted to stabbing Shepherd, allegedly saying it “had to be done” because Shepherd had once pulled a knife on a teenager.
She told police O’Keeffe claimed he was “doing the police’s job for them.”
The Trial Continues
With CCTV, witness testimony, and conflicting accounts from the defendants, the jury will now have to decide whether the three young men acted in self-defense—or whether they carried out a planned, joint attack that ended in murder.
