Buckley murder: Accused was scaring off attackers - court

A man accused of stabbing his former friend to death said he was carrying a knife to scare off people who were attacking his home.

Jamie Mitchell, 25, denies murdering Steven Wilkinson in Buckley, Flintshire in October 2022.

Mr Mitchell, of Lexham Green Close, Buckley said the friendship ended when he began dating Mr Wilkinson's sister, Jessica.

He said on the night of the incident, his house had been attacked.

He said at the time he was unaware why the house he lived in with his mother had been attacked multiple times throughout 2022.

"Windows had been getting smashed, bottles thrown at the house," he said.

Mr Mitchell told Mold Crown Court that he saw Mr Wilkinson by chance at a Spar shop in Buckley two days before the incident, and told him to pay him money he was owed.

Mr Mitchell said he had not been reimbursed for a night out at a concert the year before.

Mr Mitchell said on the night of 4 October 2022, a stone or brick was thrown through his window.

He described coming downstairs and seeing his mother "panicking and distressed".

"Mum was crying and screaming, there was glass everywhere. She said they called her a 'grass'," he said.

He said he got dressed and left the house, taking a knife he had hidden under a pile of clothes.

He added that he didn't intend to use it, but took it in case "they had weapons, to scare them off".

Mr Mitchell said he began chasing two people who he believed were responsible for the smashed window in order to warn them to leave him alone.

It was only when Mr Wilkinson turned around in an alleyway that he realised who he had been chasing, Mr Mitchell said.

When Mr Wilkinson put his left hand on Mr Mitchell's shoulder "the knife must have went underneath his arm," he told the court.

He said he did not deliberately stab him and did not know immediately that Mr Wilkinson had been injured.

"After I'd walked away I noticed there was blood on the knife," he said.

He said he returned home "panicking and in shock", where police later arrested him.

He denied disposing of the knife.

The trial continues.