A man accused of attempted murder after his alleged victim suffered multiple stab wounds has told a jury how he acted in self-defence.

Kenneth Walton accepts that he was responsible for inflicting the injuries to Karl Glease but maintains he was protecting himself when he was threatened with a golf club and a knife.

The 30-year-old categorically denies setting out to stab Mr Glease when there was an altercation outside of his County Durham home.

Teesside Crown Court had heard how Mr Glease had been drinking with the defendant and his girlfriend minutes before he was stabbed and slashed with a knife.

Paramedics were called to the address on Ely Terrace, Stanley just after 10.20pm on Saturday, June 22 this year to discover the alleged victim with multiple stab wounds.

Giving evidence in his defence, Walton described Mr Glease as a ‘bit of a nutjob’ who has a load of weapons in his house and he kept his distance when he returned to pick up his mobile phone.

When asked what happened when Mr Glease came out of his home, Walton said: “He came towards me straightaway with a golf club in his hand. I didn’t know how to react.

“I took a step back and he took a swing towards me but it missed me. He swung again and hit my arm and it snapped.”

Describing what happened next, he said: “I hit him flush in the face, he has stumbled back and I saw a knife in his hand.

“I freaked out and went to grab it immediately. I was full of fear and adrenaline. I saw the knife and saw he was going to stick it in me, so I grabbed it straightaway.”

Walton told the jury that a grapple ensued between the pair and that was how Mr Glease suffered the stab wounds.

He said: “I just swung the knife in front of me, I don’t remember how, it happened so fast and I was scared.

“He was still coming towards me; he has hit me with the golf club and then he has pulled the knife out and he is still coming towards me with anther knife.

“When I swung that knife, I wasn’t doing it to hurt him. I didn’t want no conflict that night.”

Walton denied making any deliberate stabbing movements towards Mr Glease and said the wound to the neck must have been caused when they were wrestling on the floor.

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Dr Nigel Cooper, a Home Office pathologist, told jurors that the injured man had suffered a stab wound to the neck, which resulted in the tip of blade snapping off, a stab to his chest and a puncture wound through his cheek into his mouth.

Earlier in the trial, jurors watched a video-recorded police interview where Mr Glease said he thought he had been punched to the chest until he saw his own blood spurting into the air.

“The blood was just p****** out of my chest and said - ‘the b****** has just stabbed me’. I said to his girlfriend – ‘you need to call an ambulance’ as the blood was pouring out of me chest,” he said.

The trial continues.