A MAN on trial for jointly murdering two drug dealers has denied he was trying to “frame” his co-accused – a Huddersfield man – to “save his own skin.”

Ross Stone, 28, is charged with former Denby Dale man Thomas Haigh, 26, of shooting dead David Griffiths, 35, from Plymouth and Brett Flournoy, 31, from Merseyside at a farm near St Austell, Cornwall.

Prosecutors at Truro Crown Court argue Stone and Haigh murdered the men at Sunny Corner, Trenance Downs on June 16 last year because they were being pressured over drug debts.

Yesterday Stone, who lived at the farm, denied blasting the men with a 12-bore shotgun.

John Elvidge, QC, representing Haigh, who denies murder, said: “You shot and killed Brett Flournoy and David Griffiths didn’t you? With a shotgun that was in your possession.”

Stone replied: “No. I didn’t.

“The shotgun had been in my possession for a couple of weeks, yes – but I didn’t kill them.”

On Tuesday Stone said he borrowed the weapon from a friend just in case he needed to shoot a 12-stone bull mastiff he and Haigh had brought as a guard dog.

He said if the animal got loose it might attack livestock or people and would have to be destroyed.