'I did not realise I held knife,' says chips murder accused

May 15 2008 icWales

A man accused of stabbing his 29-year-old son to death told a court today he did not realise he had a knife in his hand when he tried to push him away during a row over chips.

Martin Thompson, 51, said he had been been drinking for most of the day and was about to peel some potatoes when he got into the argument with his son, Craig.

He told Cardiff Crown Court: "I looked down and saw the knife in my hand and thought ’God, what have I done?"’

Thompson said his son, who he lived with in Lavender Road, Merthyr Tydfil,  had moved three lodgers into their house without asking him several weeks before.

He said that on November 30 last year he returned home and told Craig he was not happy about the lodgers not paying their way.

"I said ’They’re walking all over us. They’re getting away with murder’," Thompson told the court.

He said his son "got nasty" and punched him with both hands to the chest so he fell on the settee.

Thompson said he got up to go to the kitchen and his son pushed him against the units and slapped him on the top of the head before going upstairs to the others.

He said he and his son had previously had an arrangement that whoever was home first would prepare food for the other, but when he went in the kitchen he could not find any food.

"I shouted up to Craig ’you made food for them and all the chips are gone, where are the chips?’ Thompson said.

He said his son said he would come downstairs and show him where the frozen chips were, but then he noticed some potatoes and decided to peel them to make real chips.

When Craig came into the kitchen "we started having words again", he said.

Thompson said the row escalated and his son told him that his mother (Thompson’s wife Stephanie who died of septicaemia in 1996) would turn in her grave if she could see him now.

He said this remark upset him and he told Craig: "If you don’t shut up I’m going to slap you."

Thompson said he wanted Craig "out of my face" and that his son tried to kick him four or five times before grabbing him with both arms so his hands were pinned against his chest.

"He squeezed me tightly and I just pushed him away", he said.

Thompson said his son stumbled back and he could see blood coming from his top.

He said he was "stunned" when he realised the knife had gone into his chest and threw the knife behind him.

"I said ’don’t worry about it Craig it’s only a scratch. It will be sorted’," Thompson told the court.

He said he tried to kneel over Craig and put pressure on the wound but two of the lodgers started punching and kicking him.

He said he remembered nothing more until he was questioned by police the following evening.

Ian Murphy QC, prosecuting, previously told the court that Thompson and his son both became heavy drinkers following the death of Mrs Thompson.

Thomson was approximately four times the drink-drive limit at the time of the alleged attack, while his son was five times over the legal limit.

Mr Murphy told the jury Thompson was seen coming out of the kitchen with a 4in knife, saying: "Craig, I’ll f****** stab you".

The court heard Mr Thompson was then stabbed to the chest, stomach and leg.

One of the lodgers, Mr Thompson’s former girlfriend Sara Evans, said the older man held his son, saying: "I’ve killed my son".

Mr Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Murphy said Thompson told police he "just lost it" because his son was telling him to go to bed, and that he had been upset about music coming from the lodgers’ rooms.

Thompson denies murder.

Thompson struggled to speak as he recalled his son asking him ``What have you done Dad?'' after he was wounded.

He said: "His eyes just rolled in his head and he collapsed on the floor."

Asked by defence barrister Peter Blair QC if he had repeatedly stabbed his son in the chest and stomach area, Thompson said: "I would never have done something like that to my own son. Never."

In cross-examination, Mr Murphy asked Thompson why he told police that all his son had done to wind him up was to try to get him to go to bed and make a lot of noise.

Thompson said that was all he could remember at the time and that the events of the night had not come back to him until January, after Craig’s funeral which he could not attend.

Mr Murphy said: "What you have done in a cynical and deliberate way is blacken the conduct of your late son to allege he had said and done things to you to cause you to lose your temper."

Thompson replied: "You’re talking bull."

Mr Murphy also asked why he had told police he had already peeled four potatoes before the incident when there were no potato peelings but there were frozen chips in the deep fat fryer.

Thompson said the frozen chips were not his and he had remembered he did not have a chance to get the potatoes out of the cupboard.

He said that when he was interviewed by police "I was in stress. I wasn’t myself. I was really ill".

He added: "I was devastated because my son was taken away from me and I had done it by my own hand."

Of the stabbing, Thompson said: "It was a really bad accident, one I will regret for the rest of my life."

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.