A man accused of murder accepts he killed his friend but has told a jury: "I just can't remember anything."

Richard McAuley is alleged to have murdered Mark Miles by stabbing him in the neck with a broken Sambuca bottle during an argument at a flat in Margate.

The 24-year-old claims he has no memory of the incident, in which father-of-five Mr Miles died and his wife Vicky Miles was injured.

"It may be my brain doesn't want to remember and is blocking it out," he said.

McAuley, of Northdown Road, Cliftonville, is currently on trial at Maidstone Crown Court, where he denies murder.

Cross-examining him about the night of Mr Miles' death, defence barrister Paul Hogben asked McAuley: "Have you tried to remember?"

He broke down as he replied: "I just get headaches and get frustrated."

Mr Hogben added: "Do you accept you killed Mark?"

McAuley said: "Yes, I just can't think of any reason I would want to hurt Mark, we were friends."

He said at the time of the incident he had known Mr Miles and his wife Vicky for "about four or five years".

"We've had drinks together many times," he told the jury. "I got on with them all right. We were friends."

Asked about his memory of the night of the attack, McAuley, replied: "It's a bit hit and miss."

He recalled that at about midday in October last year he had cycled to near the Revolution Skate Park in Broadstairs and smoked cannabis and drank a can of cider.

He said he returned with friends at 4pm and "started drinking vodka" and a couple of cans of Fosters beers and cider.

"I also smoked three joints of cannabis," he said.

"I remember coming out of a daze in my front room and no one was about. I felt a little bit messy, drunk."

He then cycled to the home of a friend in Sandhurst Place, Margate, and "rolled a joint" in the kitchen.

Later he said he had a memory of telling Vicky Miles: "No one cares about your opinion, you p***head."

McAuley, who denies murdering Mr Miles and wounding his wife, says he had no other memory until "waking up in the back of the police car".

He said he could not recall being with the couple, or drinking Sambuca.

He told the jury he was telling the truth and denied "hiding behind his story".

Body-worn footage of McAuley at the police station recorded him saying: "I'll cut him up. I'll slice him."

He also said: "That stupid **** is done."

When told Mr Miles had died, McAuley replied: "Good, good..blah, blah, blah...he deserved it."

Mrs Miles had told the jury how McAuley had smashed the bottle against the chair before using it to stab her husband.

But he told the jury: "I wouldn't have attacked Mark. I don't just go around attacking people."

The trial continues.

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