A husband who stabbed his wife’s lover to death told a jury that he acted in self defence after the victim came at him with a bottle.

Graeme Pethard, who died when Carlo Dawes plunged a kitchen knife into his neck on May 5 this year, is also said to have threatened to kill the accused the day before.

Lewes Crown Court heard that Dawes’ wife Kayleigh Chessell had met Mr Pethard in the weeks leading up to his death and they had spent his final few days together.

On May 3, the pair, along with friends, went on an alcohol-fuelled night out.

Lacey Groves, who at the time had only known Ms Chessell for a couple of weeks, said that the couple were “all over each other”.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said that the pair were planning to be together.

She said: “She told us that she was going to kick Carlo out and one of Peth’s friends said he really liked her.

“She said she wasn’t scared and wanted to be with him too.

“They were planning on being together.”

She said that later in the evening she told him that Dawes would regularly beat her.

The jury heard that Mr Pethard responded by saying he would kill Carlo.

She added: “Peth said Carlo needed to hurry up and move out and get away from Kayleigh and if he didn’t he would sort him out.”

Taking the stand on Thursday, Dawes said that having entered his flat in the early hours of May 5 the victim came at him with a bottle of vodka and that he used the knife in self defence.

However, the prosecution dispute this. They say that Ms Chessell and Mr Pethard were asleep at her Taunton Road, Bevendean flat when Dawes returned.

They claim that having seen the pair together, Dawes, 35, went into a “jealous rage” and smashed the victim over the head with a vodka bottle before grabbing a knife from the kitchen.

They say Ms Chessell acted as a human shield as the victim tried to get out the flat.

Dawes is then alleged to have stabbed the unarmed Mr Pethard in the stomach and neck before fleeing.

The case continues.