Murder suspect Jason Bolger blacked out at the time he was allegedly involved in a killing at a South Ockendon pub, a jury heard.

Bolger told Chelmsford Crown Court he became numb and - apart from fleeting memories of lights and black uniforms - remembered nothing about what had happened at the Village Inn pub.

The prosecution alleges that 22-year-old Bolger took part in a frenzied and sustained attack, which killed Gary Edwards last March.

But he told the jury of eight men and four women he only recalled becoming numb in the pub before the killing, waking up in the police station later, thinking he was at home in bed.

Bolger, from Celandine Close, South Ockendon, denies murdering Mr Edwards and a charge of attempting to murder James Buckingham, 51.

Older brother, Brian, 27, of the same address, admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Jason Bolger told the court he remembered drinking in the pub and talking to Mr Edwards in the toilet, where Mr Edwards handed him some tablets. Bolger said he threw them away and continued talking to friends.

"The next thing, I was looking up facing the bar and I just came over all numb," he went on. "It's hard to explain. I felt wobbly and couldn't focus properly. It was like all the lights in the room were all coming into each other.

"I could not see clearly and I could have been anywhere. I was in shock more than anything.

"There was a delay and then I saw blue flashing lights. It was very very quiet. Something hit me on the side of the face and it really started stinging. Then I felt my hands going behind my back."

Later, Bolger remembered seeing black uniforms and asking why he had been arrested.

Then, he said, he woke up, with his head banging and no idea where he was. It sounds very funny, but I thought I was dead," he added.

Earlier, Bolger told the court he had taken drugs in the past but no longer did.

Craig Wicks, 19, from Broxburn Drive, South Ockendon, was cleared of murder last week, at the judge's direction.

The prosecution alleges the Bolger brothers used bar stools, broken bottles and ashtrays in the attack on Mr Edwards.

The jury has heard his injuries included broken ribs, a fractured jaw and bruising all over his body.

He was felled by a single punch from Brian Bolger after trouble flared in the pub, then hit on the head with a bar stool before he being dragged outside.

Two passers-by went to his aid, but were also attacked by the Bolgers.

The trial continues.

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