A MAN accused of murder has described the horrifying moment he plunged a knife into his friend’s chest.

Neil Brook, aged 33, of Wilbraham Road, Walkden, admitted delivering the blow that killed his friend and neighbour Josef Witkowski.

Brook, trembling and emotional, yesterday told Manchester Crown Court: “I stabbed him. I think it was round the chest area. He let out a noise. The only way I can describe the noise is like someone taking a breath, gargling, and a scream, basically all rolled into one.

That’s all I remember. He just dropped. I knew just by the noise he made that he was dead.”

The court had previously heard that Mr Witkowski died after being stabbed in the heart and he also suffered more than 100 injuries all over his body.

Brook has pleaded not guilty to murder, however, and the court has heard that it is likely he will claim he acted in self defence.

Brook said he stabbed Mr Witkowski in the chest while they were fighting in his bathroom. He claimed Mr Witkowski knocked on his door on July 24 last year and when he opened it his friend flew at him with a knife.

Brook said he grabbed a knife, which he had taped to the back of his door because he was expecting trouble, and stabbed him in the leg.

Mr Witkowski ran into the bathroom and shut the door, but Brook followed him, trying to smash through the door with a knife, before kicking it open.

Brook remembers fighting with Mr Witkowski in the bathroom and ended up on top of him as his friend leaned over the bath.

Brook claimed Mr Witkowski was trying to grab a knife he had earlier thrown into the bath. As they grappled, he stabbed Mr Witkowski with the knife they were both holding.

He said the reality of what he had done did not sink in until days later.

The court has heard that Brook and Mr Witkowski were good friends until they fell out in a row over a misspelt text message.

The trial continues