A scaffolder was left fighting for his life after he suffered five stab wounds to his chest, one penetrating and cutting his heart, in a brawl outside a pub, a court heard.

Darran Bean spent almost a month in intensive care and was said to have survived solely due to the medical care he received both at the scene and in hospital.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard the 47-year-old was given vital first-aid by staff and drinkers at The Rose Inn at Kennington as he went into cardiac arrest from his wounds.

Five paramedics then treated him on the pub floor before he was taken first to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and then on to King's College Hospital in London where he underwent open heart surgery.

Paul Bristow, 25, of Chilmington Green, Great Chart, Ashford, denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding Mr Bean with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Andrew Espley said while Bristow accepts he was at the pub in Faversham Road, Ashford, on October 2 last year, he denies stabbing Mr Bean.

However, he added that Bristow's actions after the violence may "shed some light" on whether he was guilty or not.

The car he had been travelling in was cleaned and his Facebook account, which had a large number of photographs on it, had been deleted by October 12.

At the start of the two-week trial, Mr Espley said: "The number of times that Paul Bristow stabbed Darran Bean, taken together with the location of the wounds - the left side of the chest and all close to his heart with one actually penetrating and cutting the heart - mean that Paul Bristow, at the moment he did that, intended to kill Mr Bean.

"That is why you would stab someone in one of the most vulnerable areas of the body not once or twice, or three or four times, but five times."

The court heard no weapon was ever found so it was not known what was used to inflict the wounds. The stabbing also took place in what was described as the pub's CCTV "blind-spot".

The pub was said to be busy that evening, with a group of travellers wetting a baby's head, and Mr Bean drinking with colleagues.

The court heard the groups were all drinking amiably with no trouble. However, the atmosphere changed when Paul Bristow and his friend James Fuller arrived at about 11.20pm.

Mr Espley said although there was a history of bad blood between Mr Bean and Bristow family members, there was no ill-feeling between Mr Bean and Paul Bristow himself.

However, people in the pub sensed "friction" between Bristow, his friend and the celebrating travellers, and just before midnight Mr Fuller was ordered to leave by staff and Bristow followed.

It was at this point that Bristow allegedly invited Mr Bean, who had had four pints of beer and a line of cocaine, outside for a fight.

At first, the two men exchanged punches in the car park, hitting each other to the head, said the prosecutor.

But then Mr Bean realised he had been stabbed while being effectively restrained by Bristow, said Mr Espley.

"He felt sharp pains and Paul Bristow had his arm around the back of Mr Bean's head and they were virtually up against each other when the stabbings took place."

Mr Bean staggered back into the pub where the landlady grabbed tea towels to stem the blood and others went to his aid. The next thing Mr Bean recalled was waking in up in hospital.

The court heard he first named his attacker as Paul, and then gave police his full name of Paul Bristow.

Mr Espley said the only direct evidence that Bristow stabbed Mr Bean would come from Mr Bean himself.

"There was a large group of people outside the pub at the time. But nobody other than Darran Bean is available, willing or able to say who stabbed him," he added.

The trial continues.