A BRAVE woman begged a soldier not to harm her boyfriend, but he slashed his throat and then stabbed another of her friends to death, a court heard.

Tawny Goldsmith told the court how she sensed her friends were about to be set upon by David Tillen, moments before he launched his knife attack.

Miss Goldsmith broke down in tears in the witness box as she told how she begged Tillen to leave her boyfriend, Graham Scott, alone - seconds before he collapsed in her arms with blood pouring from his neck.

Mr Scott, 22, had been slashed in the throat.

Steven Gibbon, 21, was then stabbed to death after he chased Tillen from the Burger King fast-food restaurant, in Sunderland city centre.

Miss Goldsmith told Newcastle Crown Court: "I thought there's going to be trouble, so I said to the lad (Tillen) 'We've only come in for a burger'.

"I kept saying 'Leave us alone' as by this time he had moved close.

"Then I saw Graham staggering back holding his throat. Everything was going so fast I didn't realise his throat was slashed."

The court had heard how Tillen, 26, launched the attack after rowing with Burger King staff, at the Market Place rest-aurant.

Mr Scott was left with a hole in his windpipe and a collapsed lung, and staff had to use napkins to stem the flow of blood.

His cousin, Mr Gibbon, suffered three stab wounds, and was discovered some time later slumped on a nearby pavement.

He was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life.

Tillen, who was on leave from serving in Bosnia with the Army, was arrested later on Wearmouth Bridge.

Tillen, of Wendover Way, Witherwack, Sunderland, denies murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.