by Julia Roberts

A young father on trial for murder has told a jury he never thrust a knife into the chest of his love rival.

Ricky Mount, 21, said he did not believe he was responsible for the stab wound which killed 19-year-old Adam Beaney in Faversham last year. He also denied making any contact with Mr Beaney's body while brandishing a knife.

He told the jury at Maidstone Crown Court he had armed himself with the knife only to use it as a "prop" and denied having any intention to hurt anyone with it.

A former student of the Community College, Whitstable, Mr Beaney died from a single stab wound through his heart in May. It is alleged that Mount bore a grudge against Mr Beaney because he was dating his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Stankovich, 20.

The court heard there had been trouble between Mount and Beaney three months earlier when the pair came to blows in Faversham town centre.

Mount told the jury he also believed that Miss Stankovich, who is known as Lil, used their daughter, Ellie, now aged two, as a "weapon" against him.

In the early hours of May 30, Mount and Mr Beaney met in Faversham Recreation Ground. The court heard Mount had the knife tucked down the waistband of his jogging bottoms.

Mount claimed things between him and Mr Beaney were at first amicable but the atmosphere changed when Mr Beaney got angry with Miss Stankovich during a phone call.

Mount, of Edward Vinson Drive, Faversham, told the court he was leaving the park when Mr Beaney punched him five or six times. At first, Mount reacted by laughing but then pulled the knife out.

"It was after that that I pulled the knife from my right-hand waistband in a sweeping, outwards motion and shouted: 'Come on then' twice."

Mount demonstrated from the witness box how he held his arms out. Asked how Mr Beaney reacted, Mount replied: "He shouted: 'Knife', turned and ran towards the Market Inn.

"I started to chase after him, still holding the knife in my hand. He was running away quite quickly."

Mount said Mr Beaney then slipped, stood back up and carried on running. "When he slipped I stopped. I just turned and put the knife back into my waistband. He (Mr Beaney) shouted out: 'Watch what's going to happen to you now for pulling a knife on me.'."

Mount returned to his flat and put the knife into a drawer. He said Miss Stankovich accused him of killing Mr Beaney in a telephone call the following morning. He told the court others also called him to say rumours were going around that he had killed Mr Beaney.

"I was shocked that they were all blaming it on me," he told the court. "I was thinking did I catch him at all? But then I thought no. He ran off, he was talking. No one reacted."

Asked by defence counsel Richard Travers why he had gone to his flat to get his knife, Mount replied: "For the fact that if I was to go down there and they were to start on me or jump me, it was to be like a prop, to scare them off."

He was later asked whether he thought he was responsible for the wound that killed Mr Beaney, to which Mount replied: "No."

And when asked by Judge Andrew Patience QC whether it was his case that he never came into contact with Mr Beaney's body with the knife, Mount answered: "That's correct".

The trial continues.