A woman whose son is on trial accused of murdering his father and stabbing his brother told a jury that her children lived under strict rules at the family home.

Sandra Murphy, who has herself been described by a neighbour in Hectorage Road, Tonbridge, as a bully, said she had brought her family up to ask if they wanted anything, "even a drink of water".

It is alleged that Patrick Murphy, 30, fatally knifed his father, Joe, 54, in his left arm, following a row over the charging of a mobile phone.

He is then said to have stabbed his brother, Mark, 34, in the right arm when he tried to intervene.

"I brought my family up to always ask, even for a drink of water" - Mrs Murphy

During cross-examination by Murphy's barrister James Turner QC, Mrs Murphy told Maidstone Crown Court that her son was secretive about his phone and would use it to call pornography numbers.

She also said he was expected to to ask "most of the time but not all of the time" if he wanted to charge his phone.

"I brought my family up to always ask, even for a drink of water," added Mrs Murphy.

When asked why, at his age, he had to tell his mum what he was doing with his phone, Mrs Murphy replied: "Because he was living under my roof and we have strict rules."

The court also heard of the family's living arrangements in the three-bedroomed property.

Due to health reasons, one of the rooms downstairs had been converted into a bedroom for Mr and Mrs Murphy.

They each had a room upstairs in which Mr Murphy would have his computer, music and items collected from boot fairs, while Mrs Murphy used hers for drawing and knitting.

Meanwhile, her two grown-up sons shared the third bedroom. Mrs Murphy said they never asked for separate rooms.

In the living room downstairs, Mr Murphy, his wife and Mark Murphy each had their own designated armchair.

Patrick Murphy would sit on the sofa but the jury was told he would leave the room and sit on the hallway stairs if a family member came in.

He would also regularly eat his meals in his room while his parents and brother ate theirs together on their laps.

Mrs Murphy said when they told him "a few home truths", such as smelling of beer and body odour, he did not like being told off.

Murphy denies murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mrs Murphy did not have to face her son in court as she was allowed to give evidence via a TV link between the courtroom and another room within the building.

She told how her husband had worked for Halls Homes and Gardens in Paddock Wood before becoming unemployed and then Mark's carer.

She denied he had been either physically or emotionally abusive of Patrick Murphy, and also maintained that he did not impose "lots of little rules and regulations", including how often Patrick Murphy could charge his phone, having to ask to make a cup of coffee and charging him to use a computer.

She did, however, agree her husband limited their son's time to an hour a day but said: "He has been a devoted husband.

I have been with him since I was 14 years old.... If the children wanted money he would give them money, they were never without."

Mrs Murphy said she and Mark Murphy did not like to talk about what happened that day.

"I just ask him how he feels and he feels gutted, that's all, and he keeps breaking down."

Earlier Mrs Murphy described Joe Murphy as a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather and said he was a "gentle giant".

Often breaking down in tears as she gave evidence, Mrs Murphy maintained that the only motive for 30-year-old Patrick Murphy to attack his father and brother Mark in the Tonbridge home they shared was a trivial row about the repeated charging of his phone.

Asked by Murphy's barrister James Turner QC whether there had been "years and years" of bullying by her husband on Patrick Murphy, the mother-of-four replied: "No, I swear down.

His father didn't bully him or nothing.

"Honestly, my husband didn't shout at him or bully him... There was arguing but not bullying."

Asked if she had ever been bullied by her husband, Mrs Murphy added: "No, never. He was so loving."

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court has heard that Murphy, 30, allegedly knifed his father and then stabbed his 34-year-old brother at their home in Hectorage Road in May last year.Mark Murphy was said to have been injured when he tried to intervene. It is also alleged that having stabbed his 54-year-old father, severing an artery in his left arm, he claimed he would "finish him off".

Murphy denies murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

At the start of the trial, the court heard violence erupted after an argument about Murphy charging his phone.

Having left the house in a storm, he sold his phone at Cash Converters, bought four cans of Special Brew lager and then bought a pack of three knives at a Sainsbury's store.

He then returned home, barged through the front door and stabbed Mr Murphy as he sat in his armchair, and allegedly said: "You deserve this, and this is what you're getting."

The pair then went into the garden, whereupon Mark Murphy came out of the outside toilet and stood between his father and brother.

Murphy is alleged to have then stabbed his sibling in his right arm and told him: "I've been waiting to do that to you."

Mrs Murphy told the jury she told her son to leave his father alone. "I said I had phoned the police and he said 'I don't care and I don't care if I go to prison.'."

Asked why he would be so angry as to want to stab his father that day, she replied: "It was all over his mobile phone. My husband hadn't been drinking anything. It was all over a mobile phone."

The trial continues.