A man was having fun in a bar just minutes before he was stabbed to death, a jury was told.

Stuart Slade, 35, was drinking in the Kitchen Bar, in Preston Street, Brighton, on the night of his death on December 30 2008.

Minutes after he left the city centre bar he was found by passersby lying in a pool of blood in Hampton Place, off Western Road.

Michael Bishop, 26, is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of murder.

The court has heard Bishop was in a relationship with Helen Joyce, the former partner of Mr Slade and the mother of his young son.

The two men had never met before the night of the fatal stabbing.

The jury was told Mr Slade had left a message on Miss Joyce’s phone asking her to meet him at the bar during the evening. She did not arrive but Bishop turned up.

Two men were filmed on CCTV in the bar but were not seen to speak to each other.

Kathryn Mutton, licensee at the bar, said she knew Mr Slade and served him during the evening.

She said: “He was good. He was friendly and having fun.”

She said the bar was licensed until 2am and when she tried to get Mr Slade to leave he became awkward before eventually going.

She said: “He did get a little bit aggressive. Nothing I could not deal with. I was saying it was home time at which point he got a bit annoyed and asked why he always got thrown out of places.

“He went on to say he could wreck the bar in five minutes if he wanted to. Then he left and said goodbye very nicely.

“I saw him walking up the road.”

The prosecution allege that Bishop followed Mr Slade and stabbed him repeatedly with a knife before leaving him dying in the street.

Bishop, of no fixed address, denies murder.

The trial continues.