A drunken brawl at a Kent home ended in tragedy when a man was stabbed five times with a kitchen knife, a court heard.

Sean Maher plunged the weapon into Darren Turner’s back, chest and neck, leaving him dying on the dining room floor, it was alleged.

Children at the four-bedroom detached house in Wilderness Hill, Margate, saw 21-year-old Maher inflict some of the stab wounds, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Johanna Cutts QC, prosecuting, said Maher deliberately knifed Mr Turner, 36, "in an act of anger and revenge".

It happened at the home of mother-of-four Karen Moore on March 31. During the evening there had been eight adults and eight children there.

Miss Cutts said there was animosity between Maher’s father Terry and Mr Turner over numerous matters.

The underlying issue could have been that Mr Turner was in a relationship with Mrs Moore’s sister Jackie Cobbett, who was an ex-girlfriend of Terry Maher.

"Whatever the cause and, no doubt in part down to the alcohol consumed, there came a time when the verbal arguments broke into a physical fight between Mr Turner and Terry Maher," said the QC.

"The fight remained between the two of them, although others became involved, most of them trying to break up the fight.

"The brawl continued for some time until, effectively, both men ran out of steam and the fight went out of them.

"It was at this time, when Terry Maher, in fact, had the upper hand in the fight, that Sean Maher went to the kitchen drawer, removed a knife and went towards the two men.

"Ignoring the protestations of children present, who saw he had the knife in his hands, he stabbed Darren Taylor several times, mostly to the back, when the Crown say Mr Turner was in no position to defend himself.

"At one point the knife had dropped to the floor. Sean Maher did not leave things there. He picked it up and stabbed Darren Turner with it again."

Miss Cutts added: "His intentions, the Crown say, were clear - to kill or at the very least seriously injure Darren Turner."

Maher then ran off and fled to his mother’s home in Peartree Close, Herne Bay, where he was arrested.

Maher, of Canterbury Road, Margate, denies murder.

The trial continues.