A witness to a pub fatal stabbing told police that the knifeman "did not react at all" to shots being fired at him from a BB gun wielded by his victim.

The weapon, which was described to officers as a pistol, was said to have been discharged during a violent confrontation between William Cosier and Adam Pritchard outside The Queen's Head in Boughton-under-Blean on March 13 this year.

Mr Pritchard, a dad of three who lived in nearby Faversham, had only been at the venue for five minutes when a large kitchen knife was plunged almost 23cm deep into his ribcage by Cosier, causing fatal blood loss.

The 34-year-old, who is known as Billy or Bill, later told police that he had done so in order to stop Mr Pritchard "continually" firing the gun at him.

But the witness, who had watched the incident unfold from a window of a property in The Street, recalled that the weapon may have first been brandished only after the victim had been stabbed.

In a recorded interview played to jurors at Canterbury Crown Court, they described how it was fired "quite a few times" by Mr Pritchard while the two men were up close to each other and with Cosier still holding the knife.

"It sounded like air. It was just quick," they recalled.

But when asked if Cosier had done anything in response, they replied: "No reaction at all. You could hear it and you could see him doing it but Bill? No reaction at all."

Cosier, of Well Lane, Canterbury, denies murder as well as the alternative offence of manslaughter.

The witness, whose identity is protected by a court order, told police they looked out onto The Street after they heard a commotion outside the pub entrance.

Mr Pritchard was said to be repeatedly beckoning Cosier outside with shouts of 'Come on Bill' and 'Show me what you've got', as Cosier kept "poking his head and body" out of the pub.

Cosier was then seen to emerge with the knife behind his back as others were overheard telling him 'Don't be silly' and to go back inside.

Mr Pritchard, added the witness, was "trying to get Bill to make the first move" as they continued "back-chatting" with each other and going "back and forth".

On seeing Cosier with the knife, the witness moved away from the window to alert a relative before returning to continue watching the incident unfold.

The court heard he was seen to go in and out the pub on two or three occasions.

Recalling the moment violence erupted, the witness said: "I think Adam got stabbed and I'm not sure at this point if that's when Adam got the gun out....I saw the gun and heard it trying to shoot Bill.

"They were very close to each other. That's why it was all so quick and hard to see when Adam got stabbed. I just know after he started shooting the gun, Bill tried to get back into the pub."

During cross-examination yesterday (September 19) by Cosier's barrister Jonathan Higgs KC, the witness said they were "pretty sure" they first saw and heard the gun "after the first stabbing" as the men were fighting at the entrance to The Queen's Head car park.

"They were very close to each other, and Bill was very close, like in a rugby tackle," they told the jury.

"Adam was above and shooting downwards at him. Bill was below him. They were closer than arm's reach, very close."

It is alleged Cosier murdered Mr Pritchard in " an act of aggression" after a phone row between the victim and another man - Craig Brabon - escalated from "friendly banter" to the confrontation outside the pub shortly before 10.40pm.

The 35-year-old painter and decorator was fatally stabbed with a knife that Cosier, who had been drinking since lunchtime with Mr Brabon and snorting cocaine, had grabbed from the kitchen just moments earlier, ignoring the pleas of landlady Claire Hammond as he did so.

The blade was never recovered but he told police following his arrest that he had stabbed Mr Pritchard as "multiple" shots were fired at his head, face and body.

The court heard Cosier later had to go to hospital to have several metal pellets from the weapon removed.

But jurors were told that although it is not "precisely" known when the fatal stabbing wound occurred or when the gun was discharged, it is the prosecution case that Cosier had not acted in self-defence and that his intent that night was to cause "at the minimum" really serious harm, "if not to kill" the victim.

The trial continues.