Man on trial for murdering flatmate was caught riding bicycle on M27 after fleeing to Portsmouth, court hears

Carlos Velez, 20, suspected David Martinez of kissing his girlfriend before he launched the fatal knife attack at a flat in Leytonstone, east London, on March 6 last year, the Old Bailey was told.

Prosecutor Edward Brown QC told jurors that Mr Martinez, 26, was killed ‘for no good reason at all’.

‘He was killed at the hands of this defendant - and was a victim of this defendant's possessive and short-tempered nature,’ he said.

Velez allegedly had a history of violently possessive behaviour, having punched a stranger on the Tube for looking at his girlfriend Ashlly Rondon-Diaz.

He also had an aggressive confrontation with a neighbour, who he suspected of having an interest in Ms Diaz, jurors were told.

On the day of the killing, Mr Martinez texted a cousin that Velez was acting ‘all crazy and was asking if (he) had kissed his girlfriend’.

In another message, he wrote: ‘I am going to try to go on Friday else I'll end up dead.’

Ms Rondon-Diaz walked in on Velez attacking Mr Martinez in the kitchen after being alerted by screams, jurors heard.

Mr Martinez suffered multiple knife wounds to the head, shoulder, chest and thigh as well as defensive cuts to his hands, the court heard.

He ran out of the flat but collapsed and died on the pavement.

Velez fled to Portsmouth, where he changed his clothes, jurors heard.

He was stopped by police riding a bicycle beside the M27, the court heard.

Following his arrest, Velez said he had been the victim of an attack by knife-carrying robbers who stole his phone.

He also told police he was getting ‘visions of things’ and claimed to be hearing voices and having dreams.

Jurors were told officers found the defendant's fingerprints in Mr Martinez's blood at the scene.

Mr Brown told the jury: ‘He was in truth the one responsible for the murder of David Martinez in a jealous explosion of violence in the home that he had been sharing with David Martinez and the defendant's girlfriend.

‘Any abnormal behaviour as was exhibited played a part in his make-up at the time but certainly, say the prosecution, not such as to give him any kind of defence to what was a terrible attack, using a knife to slash and to stab a completely innocent man and to take his life, all because he was accused of looking at this defendant's girlfriend and accused of kissing her.

‘The events of the day in question will be seen by you in the light of what did become obvious to his girlfriend in this period - that he was very possessive of her and a man who became, at very short notice and with no reason, violently jealous of anyone he thought might be paying her any attention.’

Velez has denied murder and the trial continues.