A MAN accused of murder has blamed his lover for killing her partner and told a jury that he was disgusted with himself for not intervening to stop the fatal attack.

Steven Martin said he sat and watched while Clare Nicholls punched and kicked Andrew Gardner in the head, and jumped on his chest before he died last March.

Mr Martin told a jury at Teesside Crown Court that Miss Nicholls was solely responsible for killing Mr Gardner, 35, and that he was “too scared” to stop it happening.

The court heard that Mr Martin, 44, and Miss Nicholls, 28, had been lovers before she met Mr Gardner, and he had also been on the receiving end of her violent temper.

He moved in with the couple and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, at their home in Chilton, County Durham, last February after being invited to by Miss Nicholls.

Miss Nicholls and Mr Martin began sleeping together again – sometimes having sex in front of Mr Gardner – in what the prosecution claims was “utter humiliation”.

It is alleged that Mr Gardner was tortured to death by the three over “at least weeks” in punishment beatings that left him with more than 100 separate injuries.

Mr Gardner suffered 21 rib fractures, burns, whip marks and slashes, as well as bleeding on the brain, and was showing signs of malnutrition and blood poisoning.

Under cross-examination, Mr Martin admitted that he was responsible for burns on Mr Gardner’s back and shoulder where he had been pinned against a piping-hot radiator.

He also accepted he was to blame for pouring boiling water from a kettle over Mr Gardner’s feet and legs, but denied “branding” him with a white-hot cigarette lighter.

Mr Martin was asked by his barrister, David Robson: “While the so-called torture was going on in the house, why did you not do anything to prevent it?”

He said he “felt sick” as he watched Miss Nicholls repeatedly attack Mr Gardner, and said: “I was too scared of Clare’s temper and she may have lashed out at me.”

Mr Robson asked: “How do you feel now that Andrew Gardner was killed in that house and you didn’t do anything to stop it?” Mr Martin replied: “I feel upset. I’m disgusted in myself.”

Mr Nicholls was due to give evidence after his sister on Friday, but he declined to take the witness box.

The three, of Arthur Street, deny murdering Mr Gardner on March 13, and the trial will resume today.

Miss Nicholls has accepted inflicting “the best part” of the injuries – although she claims she did not intend to seriously hurt Mr Gardner – but has said her brother and lover also contributed.