A "PANICKED" man stabbed his best friend to death after accusing him of beating up a girl, a court heard.

Elwen Evans QC said Craig Thomas Savage, 30, was no angel but whatever he had done was no justification for being stabbed repeatedly.

He was found in a pool of blood outside Mark Leigh Thomas’ flat at Woodville in Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells in the early hours of Sunday, July 5.

Despite the medical efforts and an emergency operation, attempts to save Mr Savage’s life failed and he was pronounced dead at 11.11am at Hereford County Hospital.

Mr Savage had been stabbed eight times by Thomas, 25, with the most significant injury piercing his aorta.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard Mr Savage, who was originally from Brecon but living in Llandrindod, had been at Thomas’ flat earlier in the night drinking with other friends before moving on to The Venue nightclub.

Prosecutor Ms Evans said Mr Savage had been thrown out of the club following an incident inside and he had been involved in a second incident outside, all caught on CCTV.

The two friends had then allegedly gone their separate ways but a text message from Thomas to Mr Savage’s girlfriend saying: "I don’t want Craig at mine again. Hitting girls. F*** that," was the beginning of the end for Mr Savage.

He went to Thomas’ flat in an old converted Victorian house and kicked his way in but inside he was stabbed a total of eight times by Thomas, one of which was in his buttocks.

Ms Evans said the facts of the case were not in dispute.

"But what is not agreed, and what requires your verdict ladies and gentlemen, is whether the defendant’s actions that night were unreasonable self defence," she told the jury.

"The prosecution case is that stabbing a man eight times with a weapon of this kind does not and cannot, on the facts of this case, amount to reasonable self defence.

"The prosecution does not seek to present him as an angel. He was someone who displayed, in drink, aggressive behaviour. Whatever the faults and his behaviour that night or before that does not merit, deserve, justify of provide a defence to what happened to him."

Thomas told police in interview he had feared for his life when Mr Savage came into his flat and had acted out of panic.

He said he had just grabbed the first thing that he saw and had hit Mr Savage two or three times in the back, but had not realised it was a knife.

Thomas, of Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells, has denied murder and manslaughter.

Asked to explain how Mr Savage had eight stab wounds, Thomas told police: "I didn’t count how many times, I was just in a panic."

The trial continues.