The tempestuous relationship between a pair of brothers came to a fatal conclusion when they brawled after enjoying a night of drinking and drug taking.

Inderjit Klare admits being responsible for the stabbing of his younger brother, Jasreet, but maintains that he was acting in self-defence after being violently attacked by him on a number of previous occasions.

The 43-year-old told jurors he had "instinctively" grabbed a kitchen knife and was punching his brother while holding it before throwing it away when he realised what was happening.

Klare "100 per cent" denies intending to kill his brother or deliberately letting him bleed to death after waiting 90 minutes to call for emergency services.

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Teesside Crown Court heard how brothers fought for the last time inside their family-owned fish and chip shop in Bishop Auckland last October.

Giving evidence in his defence, Klare admitted delivering the fatal blows.

The Northern Echo: Jasreet KlareJasreet Klare (Image: Durham Constabulary)

His barrister David Lamb KC asked him he felt about what happened on the fateful night.

He replied: “There has not a single day since that I haven’t shed a tear or said a prayer for him.”

Mr Lamb asked: “Did you intend to kill him?” He replied: “Absolutely, 100 per cent not.”

The jury heard how the pair had been drinking beer, taking cocaine and smoking cannabis, before heading into Bishop Auckland to continue their night out.

When they returned to the family business on Tenters Street, along with two other men, the brothers started fighting after Jasreet asked where the cocaine had gone.

Klare said his brother became enraged and started attacking him, forcing him defend himself after suffering serious facial injuries in a previous fight between the pair, and hearing his brother say ‘I’m going to f****** kill you’.

“I just grabbed the first thing I could – it just happened instinctively,” he said.

“I remember him saying ‘are you going to come at me with a knife’ – at the time I was not consciously aware that I had a knife in my hand.

“I was subconsciously using it as a barrier between me and Jasreet coming towards me.”

Mr Lamb asked what happened after the brothers continued fighting.

The defendant said: “He was on top of me, punching me, and I’m hitting him with the knife in my hand, just trying to get him off me.”

The Northern Echo: Officers at the scene of the alleged murder on Tenters Street, Bishop Auckland.Officers at the scene of the alleged murder on Tenters Street, Bishop Auckland. (Image: Newsquest)

When asked how he had inflicted the stab wounds to his brother’s back, he said: “That will have happened while punching him without realising I had a knife in my hand.”

The defendant told jurors that he eventually managed to get his brother off him by hitting him with a metal tray and a teapot but maintained that he did not realise his brother was bleeding.

Previously jurors heard how two men, Jordan Alderson and Michael Wilson, were forced to kick a window out to escape from the scene when the brothers started fighting.

Under cross examination from prosecution barrister, Jamie Hill KC, Klare denied wanting his brother dead or that he intended to inflict serious injury on him.

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Mr Hill asked: “Why did it take you an hour and a half to call for help?”

Klare replied: “Shock – I was frozen in fear.”

Mr Hill said: “You weren’t frozen when you were moving things about and hosing the place he down.”

Klare replied: “I didn’t immediately go into shock.”

Inderjit Klare, of Eve Lane, Spennymoor, denies murder and the trial continues.