A man claimed he did not realise he had a knife in his hand when another man received serious wounds, a court heard.

Rawle Jeffrey said he had "picked something up" in a Brighton flat after he heard he heard someone say "get a gun".

He followed Joseph Nti on to the stairs at St John's Mount flats in Mount Pleasant, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Jeffrey, 25, said: "At first he went up the stairs and then came back down towards me. We were rolling on top of each other and I still did not know what it was that I had in my hand.

"I felt something wet and saw there was a lot of blood on Joe and me, and he was saying sorry. I told him to go and went down the stairs. I didn't see him again."

Jeffrey earlier told the court he had an argument with a girl in a flat. As he left, he felt a number of blows on the back of his head.

He said he went to fetch his friend Clive Doyley in the early hours of April 11, last year, and returned with him.

Jeffrey said: "I followed someone into the bedroom. I saw a shadow as somebody walked behind me. I picked something up from on top of a cupboard. It was dark so I could not see what it was."

The jury was earlier told that Mr Nti, 20, was stabbed three times after leaving the flat. A kitchen knife with a 9in blade was found on the stairway.

The blade passed through Mr Nti's arm and entered his stomach. A second wound punctured his colon and a third was in his back. Only the prompt action of a milkman and paramedics saved his life, the court heard.

Jeffrey, of Clapham, South London, denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm.

Doyley, 24, of Petts Close, Whitehawk, denies affray.

The case continues.