Clacton : Accused threatened to kill me, jury hears

Jade Bladen was with her friend Ian Wilson on the day he was fatally stabbed at his Clacton flat.

She told a jury how she did not see the stabbing, but one of the men allegedly involved had threatened to kill her and Mr Wilson in a series of phone calls.

The prosecution at Chelmsford Crown Court has said the death of Mr Wilson stemmed from a sexual insult directed at the mother of the two brothers charged with his murder.

Miss Bladen made the comment but she told the court it was a "joke" between them.

Miss Bladen told the jurythat Darren Benstead wanted to have a relationship with her but she was not interested.

On the evening before the alleged murder, Miss Bladen said she was at Mr Wilson's flat when she received a number of calls from Darren Benstead.

She told the jury: "He would not leave me alone, continually telephoning me up and then the calls got indecent.

"I told him to stop and he threatened to smash my face in."

The sexual insult towards Benstead's mother was made in one of the calls, but Miss Bladen said it was meant as a joke.

She also told the jury Darren Benstead said "I'm going to kill you" and she took this as a threat against her and Mr Wilson.

The calls had ended about 3am on June 9 and it was the following afternoon when Mr Wilson died.

Miss Bladen said she did not see what happened as she was asleep, but she was woken by Mr Wilson's friend Joe Lawrie slapping her face.

She added: "Me and Joe telephoned for an ambulance.

"Ian was fighting for his life."

The trial has heard Mr Wilson died before paramedics arrived at the scene.

Darren Benstead, 30, of Oxford Crescent, Clacton, 28-year-old Terence Benstead, of Groom Park, Clacton, and Wayne Johnston, 40, of Grove Avenue, Walton, deny murdering Mr Wilson, 29.

He died after an incident at the door of his his flat above the Cartridge World shop at the junction of Old Road and Tewkesbury Road, Clacton, on June 9, last year.

• The trial continues