A PRINTER with a "callous feeling for others" went on a random stabbing spree in Brighton, wounding two men and killing a third.

Lewes Crown Court heard how 24-year-old Nicholas Mason stabbed one man in the eye, a second in the back and the third man fatally in the heart.

Peter Clark QC, prosecuting, said the facts in the case were not in dispute.

Mason, of no fixed address, has pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding but he denies murder, admitting instead manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Caterer Ruan Ali Malkovich, 35, was Mason's first victim.

He was in his flat above Buxton's furniture shop in London Road on November 27, 1997, when there was loud banging on his door.

Mason was at the door asking for a girl named Suzy, but Mr Malkovich said he was the only person living there.

Mason, his eyes reddened, looked demented, threatening and confrontational, Mr Malkovich said.

He shut the door but seconds later Mason kicked it open just as a timed light switch went off and the hallway went dark.

Mr Malkovich felt a sharp pain in his head, as if he had been punched. He was determined not to let Mason past him and upstairs to his room.

The next thing he remembered was standing outside, with Mason coming at him with a knife.

Mason thrust the blade forward, sinking the blade just below his left eyeball.

Asecond blow hit him at the bottom of his rib cage.

Mr Malkovich said: "I was shocked. The man was swearing at me. Had it not been for a number of other people being there he would have carried on."

Mr Malkovich remembered the knife. It was 6in to 7in long, like a combat knife.

He was treated later for a wound to the stomach and one to his eye, which has left him with slightly impaired vision.

The court heard how Mason, who worked at New England House in New England Street, jogged away across London Road and into Providence Place, the headquarters of the Farside advertising agency, where his other victims were working.

Music was playing as employees finished off paperwork and relaxed.

Mason, appearing to smell of alcohol, marched in and asked: "Is there a party going on? Why have I not been invited?"

Erratic

He was ushered outside but returned and swung a punch at Matthew Jago, who stepped backwards to avoid contact.

Mr Jago said Mason, looking erratic and on edge, turned to others in the room.

Seconds later he saw colleague Justin Korashy, 19, against a wall, holding his side and looking pale.

Justin, who lived with his family in Saltdean Drive, Saltdean, Brighton, removed his hand and saw it covered in blood.

Mr Jago said: "He began to lose all colour. His lips went blue and he slumped on the floor."

Justin's mother Carol, a 53-year-old supply teacher, wept in the public gallery as the prosecution told how Justin's death was not instantaneous.

Her husband Ramzy, a 60-year-old design engineer, put his arm around her shoulders.

Mason's third victim, Justin's colleague Thomas Meakin, 20, from Hove, ran to escape an attack.

He said Mason's eyes were bloodshot and he looked anxious and aggressive.

Mr Meakin saw arms coming from behind and flailing about his head as he fled through doors and up a flight of stairs.

Blood

He thought Mason had landed punches on him, but when he felt his back he found a tear in his clothing and blood. He, too, was treated later in hospital.

Mr Clark said Mason left and returned to his nearby place of work in New England Street.

Acolleague agreed to drive Mason to Brighton station and the next morning he flew from Gatwick to Amsterdam.

Mr Clark said he returned on December 3 and was arrested on arrival at Harwich.

He said he threw the knife out of a train window on the way to Gatwick.

Mr Clark told the jury a doctor at Broadmoor would testify that Mason had a tenacious sense of personal right, a callous feeling for others, a low threshhold for discouraging aggression and an excessive sensitivity to rebuffs.

Another colleague of Justin Korashy, Robert Hume, told the court today he backed into the street to get Mason out of the advertising agency.

He was joined by another employee, Ryan Hyde.

Mr Hume said Mason was waving the knife about his head and came within inches of stabbing him.

Knife

He said: "It was quite obvious that he wanted to kill others, or attempt to, or maim and wound."

Mr Hume said Mason entered the agency's offices at about 9.30pm. He left when Mr Hume told him to leave but came back a second time.

Mr Korashy stepped in to make Mason leave again and as he followed him through a doorway was stabbed. Mr Hume said: "I noticed a shiny object in the defendant's hand embedded in Justin's stomach.

"It was a combat-style knife with a black handle and black blade."

The trial continues.

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