THE first of five men accused of murder after a family funeral has started to give evidence as the defence cases have begun.

Kieran Ibitson admitted taking a knife to his uncle's home and stabbing him after he had knocked out his mother at a wake.

He told the jury he intended to cause really serious harm because he was "really angry and really upset" by what had happened earlier.

Ibitson, 21, said he knew of his uncle, John Pickering's, fearsome reputation for fighting because he had witnessed it on the streets before.

He told Teesside Crown Court that he had got the knife two or three months earlier in a swap with a friend for some cannabis – claiming he had never moved it from under his bed or carried it before.

And he claimed he took it out that night to ward off his 47-year-old uncle if the confrontation he had planned turned violent.

Earlier, the court heard details of Ibitson's education, family life and progression into work.

He left Ormesby School, near Middlesbrough, with 12 GCSEs, and went to the nearby Prior Purseglove Sixth Form College to study physics, maths and design technology.

Just before he was due to sit his A-levels, he was offered an apprenticeship with Tata Steel Europe at the 20-inch pipe mill in Hartlepool.

By the time of the funeral on April 16, he was in his third year working 60 hours a week and said: "It was definitely where I wanted to be in life.

"I had plans for the future and Tata were going to pay me to go to university to do an electrical degree. The plan was to get a couple more years' experience then go off-shore and go abroad."

He said he had never been in trouble before the night he, two cousins, his best friend and his twin sister's boyfriend went to his uncle's home in Meadowcroft Road, Normanby, near Middlesbrough.

After Mr Pickering was stabbed, his sons Steven Willis, 27, and Lennon Pickering, then 17, came from the house – Mr Willis with a samurai sword.

The teenager was also stabbed and badly injured and his brother was stabbed through the heart and died almost immediately.

Ibitson said he feared for his life when Mr Willis chased him and slashed him across the back with the sword, and said if it could be proved it was his knife was delivered the fatal blow it would have been in lawful self-defence.

Dominic Pickering, 23, of Grinkle Avenue, Mark Pickering, 32, of Greenham Close, Kieran Ibitson, 21, of Beresford Crescent, Jahmal Weaver, 22, of Rounton Green, and Jack Cross, 21, of Olney Walk, all Middlesbrough, deny murder and manslaughter as well as wounding Lennon Pickering with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

All but Ibitson deny wounding John Pickering with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm. He has admitted the charge.