A DRUG dealer killed a man with a 12-inch sword after a gang of armed robbers slipped into his flat, a court was told.

Carl Lindsay, aged 25, swung the sword after he was threatened with a self-loading pistol.

Manchester Crown Court was told that Stephen Swindells died after suffering four main wounds, all inflicted from behind. One had severed an artery causing massive blood loss and death.

Lindsay appeared in the dock with three of the alleged robbers, one of them said to have been the get-away driver.

He denies murdering Stephen Swindells, of Harwood Court, Salford.

Three men deny robbing Lindsay. They are Darren Ashton, aged 29, of Coniston Avenue, Little Hulton; David Ryan, aged 30, of Culverwell Drive, Salford; and the driver, Michael Page, aged 25, of Trenthamlowas, Salford.

They also deny having a firearm at the time of the robbery.

Prosecutor Alan Wolstenholme said Lindsay had sold cannabis for some months to callers at his home.

On February 27 last year, two men went there to buy drugs.

Three others - the Crown claim Swindells, Ashton and Ryan - were outside the communal front door.

One asked the pair if they were going to Carl's. They indicated they were and, as the door lock was released by Lindsay, all went inside.

The two customers saw two of the three in the flat. One of them pointed a black handgun at Lindsay who repeatedly told them, "I've got nowt".

There was a scuffle and, with the sword at shoulder height, Lindsay chased the trio out of his flat.

Lindsay later told police he had been the victim of a robbery and had stabbed one of his assailants.

That night, Swindell was found in Broad Street, Salford. Nearby was the abandoned heavily bloodstained get-away car.

Swindell was rushed to hospital but staff were unable to resuscitate him. The cause of death was a 15cm-deep stab wound in his left thigh.

Mr Wolstenholme said the robbers fled with some cash and police found a handgun and a knife in the abandoned car.