PC Keith Blakelock murder trial: Key witness tells Old Bailey ‘all blacks look alike’

PC Blakelock was stabbed some 40 times as he lost contact with an 11-strong team of officers (Getty Images)

A key witness in the PC Keith Blakelock murder trial has told the Old Bailey that “all blacks look alike” to him.

The witness, known by the pseudonym John Brown to protect his identity, said that he saw Nicky Jacobs, 45, using a machete to stab the officer during the Broadwater Farm riots in October 1985.

Violence broke out on the multi-ethnic council estate in Tottenham, north London, after a black woman died from a heart attack as police searched her house.

The jury heard that during one interview with the police in August 1993, Brown, who has admitted kicking PC Blakelock up to 10 times, was asked who he had seen during the attack.

He replied: “It’s very hard for me because, like, I’m not a racist person but to me a black is a black. I can’t tell the difference between them. To me a black man is a black man.”

Asked by Courtenay Griffiths QC, for the defence, if he still thought all black people looked alike, the witness answered: “More or less.”

PA