A mum told the Aqeel Khan murder trial how she saw the teenager accused of stabbing him fighting two other youths shortly before.

Kirsty Hughes told Luton Crown Court that moments later she saw the teenager again, this time being chased down the West Watford street by a group of young men, which included Aqeel, who was 18.

She said she saw the teen and Aqeel throw punches at each other.

She said both were at arm’s length from each other and but they didn't see either make contact.

But she then told the court how Aqeel dropped to the floor.

Kirsty Hughes was giving evidence as a prosecution witness at the trial of the 17-year-old, who denies murdering Aqeel Khan.

He died from a single stab wound outside the entrance to Westfield Academy in Croxley View, Watford.

At first, others with Aqeel thought he had been punched, but he sustained a stab wound between his shoulder blades.

The knife had penetrated his left lung and caused severe damage to a major artery, the court heard.

The 17-year-old who is on trial cannot be identified for legal reasons and was 16 at the time.

The court has been told how the violence erupted on the Holywell Housing Estate in West Watford on August 22, 2014.

It involved the 16-year-old and a number of young men who all knew each other to a "greater or lesser extent," said William Mousley QC.

He said the death arose out of "bad feeling" between the teenage boy from Watford and two of the young men, which didn't include Mr Khan.

The jury have been told how, on the afternoon of August 22, there was a brief altercation between the defendant and a number of young men outside a parade of shops in Tolpits Lane on the estate.

The accused had swung a sports bag at the group and hurled a stone at one of them.

One youth in the group had struck out at the boy with his belt.

Aqeel had arrived outside the shops as the violence was about to break out and the prosecutor said a witness believed he may have been struck.

Kirsty Hughes went into the witness box to tell the court how that afternoon she and a friend had been in Croxley View and walking towards Tolpits Lane when she saw the defendant being chased by two other youths, one of who had a belt in his hand.

She said outside flats in Croxley View the accused and the two who were chasing him stopped and began throwing things at each other.

Ms Hughes said a woman standing on the balcony of one of the flats told the boys off for fighting and the chasing pair then ran back towards Tolpits Lane.

She said the youth who had been chased then started to make his way back towards the shops in Tolpits Lane.

Not long afterwards she said she saw him once more, this time running down Croxley View.

She said: "There was a male running behind him. They both stopped.

“I saw the second male throw a punching motion at the first male and the first male threw a punching motion back. There was no contact that I saw. They were at arm’s length from each other."

She said three or four other males were running up to the pair and she went on: "Then I saw the second male drop to the floor.

“They tried to help him up and he dropped down a second time and they all ran off.

"After everyone had run off, I walked up to see if there was anything I could do to help him but there were already people there helping. I recognised him as having seen him around the area," she said.

Earlier, the jury heard Aqeel was rushed to Watford General Hospital, where medical staff were unable to restart his heart which had stopped beating and he was pronounced dead.

Mr Mousley said it was the deceased who was at the head of the chasing pack and was the one who got the closest to the fleeing boy.

He said: "Aqeel Khan was the one who got the closest and the defendant was seen to strike out at him," he said.

At first, he said, others thought the boy had punched Mr Khan.

He added: "It was only when he collapsed and people went to his aid that the full seriousness of what the 16-year-old had done to him was appreciated.”

He said it has been estimated that the blade of the knife had been at least three and a half inches in length.

It's alleged after the stabbing the accused ran off to his home a few minutes away.

He was arrested later that night and refused to answer any questions but provided a prepared written statement to the police.

It said he had not done anything wrong, and had not been present when Aqeel was killed. He claimed he did not know who he was.

The case continues.