A heavy drug user who stabbed to death a neighbour who complained about noise coming from his flat has claimed he acted in self-defence.

Gordon Locke said he twice thrust a knife used for gutting fish into Gordon Farnes’ torso after he was struck in the face.

“I dropped the knife in shock,” he told a jury. “There was blood everywhere. I punched him three times in the face.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Farnes, 43, had knocked on his ceiling after hearing banging coming from the flat above occupied by Locke and his girlfriend.

Shortly before he collapsed and died, the victim managed to phone his mother and tell her: “He just attacked me.”

Mr Farnes had lived at the flat in Sherwood Road, Tunbridge Wells, for eight years.

Locke, 28, had moved in with Rebecca Hadlow, who had been there about a year.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC said after Locke went to live at the flat the noise level increased and exacerbated Mr Farnes’ mental health problems.

As a result, he had applied to move to a new home.

“I wasn’t in a good place. I was using cocaine and cannabis...” - Gordon Locke

There had been shouting between the floor and ceiling. Mr Farnes banged on the ceiling when the noise was excessive.

His mother urged him not to retaliate. He replied: “I know mum. Much as I would like to punch the bloke, I won’t unless they come down to me, then it is self-defence.”

Miss Hadlow was to tell police Locke had been taking excessive amounts of cocaine and not sleeping.

Shortly before the alleged attack, she said, he had “sniffed up” a week’s supply of the drug and became aggressive.

On the morning of July 17 last year, Miss Hadlow had a seizure while in the bathroom and Locke reacted angrily.

He went into the bathroom and there was more banging. Mr Farnes then started banging on his ceiling, and Locke became angrier.

Holly Mulligan, who was also at the flat, said Locke became “mentally crazy” and snapped.

Miss Marshall said Locke left the flat and went to Mr Farnes’ door.

A neighbour heard somebody knocking on Mr Farnes’ door telling him to open it and shouting: "You have got five seconds before I kick it in.”

Locke stabbed Mr Farnes twice. The fatal wound entered the liver and went into the main “pumping chamber” of the heart.

He was dead by the time paramedics and police arrived.

Locke returned to his flat and asked Miss Hadlow to wash his blood-soaked clothes.

He went to a window and threw the knife into the garden.

Locke, who denies murder, said in evidence he moved in with Miss Hadlow after being evicted from his home in Lamberhurst in January last year. He also slept in his car.

He agreed it was a relationship where there was loud arguing and swearing.

“I wasn’t in a good place,” he said. “I was using cocaine and cannabis.”

Miss Hadlow had a neurological problem and repeatedly had fits.

“I tried my hardest to do my best, but I found it hard to deal with,” he admitted.

He agreed he was “short-tempered with frustration” about not being able to help her.

"I got my arm free and I stabbed Mr Farnes twice around the torso area..." - Gordon Locke

He admitted he did not react very well some times when Mr Farnes banged on the ceiling.

“I didn’t always react,” he said. “Sometimes I would bang a couple of times and say ‘What’s the effing problem?’ I said once: ‘If you are such a big man, come and tell us what the problem is.’

“You can’t get anywhere around the flat without making some sort of noise.

Locke wept as he claimed he only had a vague recollection of events leading up to the stabbing.

He remembered Miss Hadlow having a seizure and then banging on the ceiling, and him “banging back down”.

He continued: “I shouted: ‘She is having a f------ fit. Why are you banging?’”

Locke claimed there was then banging on the front door and when he opened it he was struck in the face by Mr Farnes.

“I got my fishing knife,” he said. “It was down by the front door. I grabbed it to protect myself and prevent him from coming in. I put my left hand out and pushed him back out of the door.

“He grabbed my right wrist. I got dragged along the wall outside the house. I got my arm free and I stabbed Mr Farnes twice around the torso area.

“I wasn’t really thinking. I dropped the knife in shock. There was blood everywhere. I punched him three times in the face.

“He fell against the wall and landed on the floor on his back. I turned around and picked up the knife. He was in the process of getting up.”

"It is something I really wish hadn’t happened. I can’t take back what I have done...” - Gordon Locke

He vaguely remembered saying: “If you do that again you won’t walk around again.”

Asked by his QC Kate Lumsdon what was going through his mind when he stabbed Mr Farnes, he replied: “Just to get him away from me. I told Rebecca I had stabbed Mr Farnes. I was holding the knife.”

After his arrest he punched and headbutted the wall. “I was disgusted with myself,” he added. He also tried to strangle himself with a shirt.

“I was still feeling distraught I had taken someone away from their family and caused my family so much pain,” he said.

Asked how he felt about it now, he sobbed: “I feel bad. I feel horrible about it. It is something I really wish hadn’t happened. I can’t take back what I have done.”

Questioned by Miss Marshall, he admitted: “I lost my temper when I picked up the knife. I lost control. I lost my temper once he hit me in the face.

“It has been playing on my mind for a long time. It has been stuck in my head. I am remembering what I wish I hadn’t done.”

The trial continues.