Alleged killer was 'worked up' after pub pool row
An alleged killer told police he was 'worked up and upset' when he abruptly left a pub following a row over a game of pool, a court heard.
Lyndon Smith, 46, is accused of murdering John Joyce in Church Street, Bilston, after fetching a knife from home and returning to town to look for the people with whom he had been playing.
Police viewing CCTV clips described Smith as entering The Market Tavern, the scene of the pool game, and 'storming around like a man possessed', looking 'irate and angry' as he searched the pub for his former opponents.
The footage showed him stabbing a knife into the bar but Smith told officers he did not remember doing that or even returning to the pub at all that evening.
Smith was quizzed by detectives following a two-week stay in hospital being treated for injuries he received in the violence that erupted on June 18 last year between the defendant and the Joyce family group.
He told his police interrogators that he had 'foolishly' been drinking that day despite being on medication for anxiety and that when the game of pool turned hostile, with insults being hurled, he had felt 'intimidated and confused'.
He had no memory of returning to his home less that a mile away, where his Vauxhall Astra was spotted on a neighbour's CCTV, or of returning to The Market tavern, he said.
However he did recall driving along Church Street and stopping when he saw the Joyce party, claiming the were blocking his path.
"I felt they were going to have a go at me so I got out of the car," he told police. Asked why he had done so, he replied he had panicked.
"I'd been very confused, I don't know what was going through my mind. I felt like I was surrounded , I had a feeling of fear. I thought they were going to start attacking me in the car."
He told the group to 'back off', whilst holding a knife behind his back, he said. He then felt a blow to his face as John Joyce moved from the back of the group to land a punch.
Smith said he did not remember picking up the knife but added 'I knew it was in my hand' and in the ensuing fight he stabbed 20-year-old Mr Joyce four times before running off to Walsall Street where the victim's uncle James McDonagh and friend Michael Keenan attacked him with a saw and crowbar. Mr Joyce caught up with them and also joined in the attack, the court heard.
Smith, of Owen Road, Bilston, pleads not guilty to murdering John Joyce and also denies wounding Mr McDonagh and Mr Keenan intending to cause grievous bodily harm. The trial continues.
