THE man accused of murdering Simon Warton after a row at a house party has insisted he was acting in self-defence.
Sean Bailey says he lashed out with two knives after Mr Warton and two others, Bradley Woodacre and Matthew Mourne, intervened in an argument between him and his girlfriend.
Giving evidence for the first time the 29-year-old said he was good friends with the father-of-one from Orsmond Close, Waterlooville.
‘I didn’t intend to kill anyone,’ he said.
‘Me and Bradley started arguing. I told them to keep their nose out of it, it’s got nothing to do with them and then I just told them exactly what I thought of them.
‘They started grabbing me and that, in the kitchen in the corner. We started wrestling.
‘I grabbed two knives on the side. I jabbed out and lashed out, screaming for them to get away from me.’
He said he didn’t know if that was when he fatally wounded the 27-year-old.
Asked by Patrick Gibbs, defending, why he picked the knives up, he said: ‘As a deterrent to defend myself.’
He said there was another struggle outside and that could have been when he stabbed Mr Warton.
Asked if he meant to, Bailey said: ‘No, I was just defending myself, I wanted them to get away from me.’
The group had been at a party in Curlew Gardens, Wecock and Mr Warton died in the early hours of April 12 in nearby Dove Close.
The next day Bailey, who has previous convictions for violence between 1999 and 2011 including grievous bodily harm with intent, possessing an offensive weapon and assaults on a previous partner, saw people talking about a murder on Facebook.
‘I realised that the injuries I caused him, he must have died,’ he said.
His claim that he lashed out in the kitchen after Mr Woodacre grabbed him round the throat is key to his defence.
Witnesses say the attack happened outside, after Bailey had gone back into the house to get the knives.
Prosecutor Miranda Moore said: ‘Going back into the house to get weapons, if that happened your defence goes out of the window doesn’t it?’
‘Yeah,’ he replied
She accused him of lying and changing his story to fit the evidence, telling him: ‘Your version doesn’t stand up when you look at it carefully does it Mr Bailey?’
‘I don’t care what you think, I know what happened,’ he replied.
Winchester Crown Court heard he admitted some of the things he told police after his arrest were not true, including a claim that he didn’t realise he was picking up knives.
Bailey, of Robin Gardens, Wecock, denies murder.
Sean Bailey blames death on his girlfriend
SEAN Bailey said he blamed his girlfriend in part for the death of Simon Warton.
He told the jury it was the 16-year-old’s fault for causing the argument between them by talking to a male friend on Facebook.
And he denied trying to throttle her that night.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, initially backed up his version of events about the attack happening inside but she changed her story at
court.
Prosecutor Miranda Moore said: ‘You told her to say that after the event, didn’t you, and she went along with it because she was scared of you.’
(Proceeding)