A builder told a jury he was shocked when a friend blamed him for killing a man.

James Smith, 26, denied he violently attacked George Deer at his home in Hurstpierpoint.

He claimed he tried to split up a fight between Craig Clarke and Mr Deer. Afterwards he said Clarke blamed him for being responsible for stabbing Mr Deer to death.

Smith, of Willow Close, Hurstpierpoint, and Clarke, 32, of Albany Road, Crawley, deny murder at a trial at Lewes Crown Court. They are accused of killing Mr Deer, 42, on the night of March 17 last year.

Mr Deer was hacked to death with a meat cleaver and stabbed with knives at his ground-floor flat in Willow Gardens. The prosecution allege Smith and Clarke both committed the attack after a heavy night of drinking and taking cocaine.

Smith told the jury on the night of the alleged murder he had been to a family party at The Hassocks Hotel in Hassocks. Among the guests was Clarke, who was in a relationship with Smith's sister.

He said at the end of the evening he and Clarke were alone at Smith's house, where he lived with his girlfriend and her three children.

Smith said that at about 4am Clarke started asking about Mr Deer. Smith told him the older man was demanding he pay a £20 debt for a washing machine. Smith claimed Clarke suggested they went round to Mr Deer's home nearby to "sort it out."

Smith said: "I just assumed he was going to give George a warning."

He said he saw Clarke storm out of the house and he followed him and by the time he arrived the two other men were fighting in the hallway.

Smith said he was struggling to separate the two men and he slipped to the ground.

It was then, he said, he found a knife. He claimed it was the first time he was aware that a blade was being used as a weapon in the fight.

He said when he managed to pull Mr Deer off Clarke he found another knife. He said they returned to his home where he put the knives in a carrier bag along with a meat cleaver Clarke was holding.

Smith said the next morning he was shocked when Clarke blamed him for the attack.

Smith said: "He started blaming me. He said: It was all you, you did it.' Obviously I was denying it and saying it was him. I could not believe what I had seen the night before and that Craig was blaming me."

The trial continues.