Man denies stabbing his friend in East Kilbride

A man told a jury that he stabbed his friend to death by accident.

David Shannon, 28, denies murdering 41-year-old Spencer Borland by stabbing him in the back on May 14, last year, at Campbell Place, East Kilbride.

Shannon said in evidence at the High Court in Glasgow: 'I didn't murder him. I'm not a murderer.'

The jury heard that both men were in the living room of the home Shannon shared with his partner Louise Le Feuvre around 5am when a row broke out.

Shannon claimed that Mr Borland grabbed an ornamental knife which was on display and stabbed him on the hand. He said he then grabbed the knife from Mr Borland, who then grabbed him from behind.

The murder accused was asked by defence QC Gordon Jackson: 'You are struggling with him and you have the knife in your hand and in the course of him moving and you moving the knife stabbed him,' and Shannon replied: 'Yes. I didn't think it had gone into him and then I saw the blood.'

Shannon added: Louise walking in and I asked her to phone an ambulance. It was an accident.

He told the jury that he dropped the knife in the bedroom when he walked in their to put on a T-shirt.

Mr Jackson said: 'Did you mean to kill Spencer Borland,' and Shannon replied: No I didn't intentionally stab Spencer. It was an accident. I'm not a violent person.'

Prosecutor Mark McGuire accused Shannon of attacking an unarmed man and he replied: 'He was trying to take the knife off me.'

Mr McGuire then said: 'Why didn't you tell the 999 operator it was an accident,' and the accused replied: 'I was panicking my friend was lying on the floor dying. I could barely speak. I was shaking like a leaf.'

Shannon denied that he had stabbed Mr Borland in retaliation for being stabbed on the hand by him.

The jury hs heard that the wound to Mr Borland's back collapsed a lung and cut though a major blood vessel.

The trial before Lord Ericht continues.