A drug-dealer accused of murdering a Folkestone man has admitted stabbing him seven times - but says he did it in self-defence.

Timothy Avril claimed he had grabbed a knife in a desperate attempt to fight off an attack at a flat in London Road in February.

Avril and pal Damian Daley have both denied murdering 20-year-old Gus Allman in a bust-up over what the prosecution claim was drugs.

The 22-year-old told Canterbury Crown Court how he had been dealing in drugs when two men burst into his flat.

"It was overwhelming...like a wave had crashed over me," he added.

He claimed one of the men was armed with a bottle and a second – a smaller man – had a knife.

Avril told the jury he believed the attack was prompted by his move into dealing in drugs in the Folkestone area.

"I saw a silhouette of two men and then they rushed towards me. I was trapped in the corner. I wasn't the aggressor."

He added that the fight began in the kitchen and moved into the lounge as he struggled with the bigger man who was attacking him with the bottle.

During the punch up in the flat in London Road, Avril said he disarmed the knifeman and during the struggle, stabbed Gus Allman seven times.

"It's all a bit of a blur. I was on the floor at one point and these two are kicking and stomping on me and I was like fighting back.

"I was fighting for my life. I was just keeping myself alive. There was just nowhere for me to go... I accept that I am responsible for all seven wounds..." - Timothy Avril

"Then I got up but was knocked onto the bed by being overpowered again. I was lying on the bed and this man was straddling me. I was fighting for my life. I was just keeping myself alive.

"There was just nowhere for me to go... he was literally on top of me and I had no exit. But I accept that I am responsible for all seven wounds."

But Avril – who had denied stabbing anyone until the trial had started – said he had no intention to kill Mr Allman.

"That was never my intention. I am not a violent man. But there was no stopping him (Allman). The attack was relentless and ferocious from the start. It was non-stop.

"Unless you have been in that situation you can’t explain. You are not thinking too clearly... you are trying to do anything just to keep alive."

He told the jury that he denied stabbing Mr Allman to the police because he didn't think he would be believed.

"They knew I was selling drugs and I just didn't want to be labelled a murderer," he added.

Avril said that Daley appeared at the door and the two men fled the flat, allegedly taking his cash.

He then went to the rail station to return to London and on the way, said he disposed of the knife "in a drainpipe or a bin, I am not 100 per cent sure".

Prosecutor James Mullholland QC has told how Mr Allman died at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, two hours after the incident.

"The prosecution case is that Avril and Daley are responsible for his death, that they both stabbed him with different knives and that they are guilty of murder."

Mr Mullholland said that Avril "is by his own admission a drug dealer" and police later found wraps of cocaine at the Dulwich home he shared with his mother.

He claimed that Avril travelled frequently from London to Folkestone to supply drug addicts and used the flat in London Street as a base.

"He rented Flat 2 from Laura Smith and used it as a base for his drug-dealing activities. Laura Smith lived there with her boyfriend, Damian Daley."

Smith, 27, now of Harvey Street, Folkestone has pleaded not guilty to doing acts tending to pervert the course of public justice.

Dean Alford, 20, of Wadden Hall, Canterbury, and passenger Melech Marshall, 18, from New Cross, London have admitted charges of perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.

A fourth man Michael Williams, 20, from East Dulwich has denied an identical charge.

The trial continues.