A YOUNG man was dragged screaming and injured back into a flat where he was then murdered, a court heard.

Serxhio Marku begged for his life during an attack upon him at Stafford Road, Brighton.

Blood and a handprint from the 21-year-old was found on the outside of the flat, suggesting he had tried to stop being pulled back inside.

Francesco D’Agostino, 45, and Giuseppe Petriccione, 46, are jointly accused of luring him to the flat and murdering him.

They are alleged to have used weapons including a scaffold pole, barbell, dumbbell and knives to bludgeon and stab Mr Marku to death in September last year.

At Brighton Crown Court, Judge Christine Laing QC has started to sum up the evidence heard in the trial over the past few weeks.

It includes evidence from one neighbour living opposite that she could hear a person screaming: “I cannot breathe, what are you doing, I cannot breathe.”

The neighbour then heard the pleading stop abruptly.

Meanwhile neighbour Zoe Pellatt called 999 after hearing violence in the flat. She could hear a man pleading: “What did I do?”

D’Agostino claims he was attacked by Mr Marku with a knife demanding cash over drugs, and claims he was the one who said “what did I do?”

But both neighbours said the voice they heard was not D’Agostino’s.

D’Agostino admits striking Mr Marku with some objects in self defence, but blames Petriccione for stabbing Mr Marku and delivering the coup de grace.

But Petriccione blames D’Agostino, who was covered in Mr Marku’s blood.

Inside, Mr Marku was found by police lying face down in a pool of his own blood. He had up to 50 blunt force injuries to his head and several stab wounds.

Both defendants were arrested by armed police while crawling through back gardens in the Prestonville area of Brighton.

Footage already shown to the jury shows Petriccione begging police “don’t kill me” in a neighbour’s garden in Stafford Road, while D’Agostino was led through a man’s home in Exeter Street. He was bare chested and covered in blood.

Alan Kent QC, prosecuting, said both men were close to the victim at the time of the attack and said blood was left spattered on the walls.

But John Price QC, for Petriccione, claims there is no evidence that his client was involved in the attack, and told jurors his client had told the truth.

Judge Laing QC will finish her summing up of the case on Monday, then jurors will think about their verdict.