Father 'stunned' over knife death

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A father accused of stabbing his son to death after a row about chips has told a court he did not realise he had a knife in his hand at the time.

Martin Thompson, 51, said he had been drinking for most of the day and was about to start peeling potatoes.

He told Cardiff Crown Court he was "stunned" when he realised the knife had gone into his chest.

He denies murdering his son Craig, 29, at their home in Merthyr Tydfil last November. The trial continues.

Mr Thompson told jurors his son had moved three lodgers into their house without asking him several weeks before.

On 30 November, he said, he returned home and told Craig he was not happy about the lodgers not paying their way.

'Got nasty'

He told the court:"I said ' They're walking all over us. They're getting away with murder'".

He said his son then "got nasty" punching him with both hands to the chest so he fell on the settee.

Mr Thompson told the court he then got up to go to the kitchen and his son pushed him against the units and slapped him on the top of the head before going upstairs.

Previously, said the defendant, they had an an arrangement that whoever was home first would prepare the food for the other, but when he went into the kitchen he could not find any food.

"I shouted up to Craig 'You made food for them and all the chips are gone, where are the chips?'", Mr Thompson added.

Martin Thomson and his son became drinkers after the death of his wife

He said his son said he would show him where the frozen chips were, but then he noticed some potatoes and decided to peel them .

When Craig came into the kitchen the pair started "having words again", said Mr Thompson and then row escalated.

He said his son told him that his mother - Mr Thompson's wife Stephanie who died in 1996 - would turn in her grave if she could see him now.

He then told Craig:"If you don't shut up, I'm going to slap you."

Mr Thompson told jurors he wanted Craig "out of my face" and that his son tried to kick him four or five times before grabbing him so his hands were pinned against his chest.

"He squeezed me tightly and I just pushed him away," said Mr Thompson.

'Only a scratch'

His son stumbled back and he could see blood coming from his top, he said, and he was "stunned" when he realised the knife had gone into his chest, and threw the knife behind him.

"I said 'Don't worry about it Craig, it's only a scratch. It will be sorted," Mr Thompson told the court.

He told the jury: "I looked down and saw the knife in my hand andthought 'God, what have I done?"'

He said he tried to kneel over his son and put pressure on the wound but two lodgers started punched and kicking him.

Ian Murphy, QC, prosecuting, previously told the court that Mr Thompson and his son both started drinking heavily following Stephanie Thompson's death.

He said Mr Thompson was approximately four times the drink-drive limit at the time of the alleged attack, while his son was five times over the legal limit.

Mr Murphy told the jury Mr Thompson was seen coming out of the kitchen with a knife and threatening his son with it.

The court heard Craig Thompson was stabbed to the chest, stomach and leg

Mr Murphy said Mr Thompson told police he "just lost it" because his son was telling him to go to bed, and that he had been upset about music coming from the lodgers' rooms.