The phone calls between an alleged leader of an Ipswich gang and the defendant in a murder trial have been scrutinised in court.

Alfie Hammett, 19, and Joshua Howell, 18, have both been charged with the murder of Raymond James Quigley on January 17 last year in Westgate Street, as well as possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Hammett, of Larkhill Rise, Rushmere St Andrew, and Howell, of Wellington Street, Ipswich, both deny the charges and are on trial.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson was cross-examining Howell further on Monday and questioning why there had been so many phone calls between Howell and someone he said is an important member of the Ipswich Nacton Gang before and after the stabbing.

The Ipswich Nacton Gang is also known as IP3.

The court has previously heard the alleged gang member, who cannot be named because of his age, was seen on a phone seized by police in a picture.

Jackson previously put it to Howell that he knew the gang member was a high level in the hierarchy of the gang but Howell denied this.

Howell has said they were childhood friends and saw each other regularly so there were calls before the stabbing as he said the person in question was trying to arrange a meet up for ‘leisure’.

The prosecution's case is that Howell is part of the gang and the calls before were about organising the plan for the stabbing and the calls after were discussions about what happened but Howell denies this.

There was a call between the two for almost half an hour on January 19 and Jackson put it to Howell that the only topic of conversation would have been about what happened on Westgate Street but Howell said he did not recall what they spoke about.

The trial continues.