A MURDER trial jury has been told how a man punched and kicked his housemate in a "shouting match" at their Kidderminster home and then hit him on the head with a metal bar.

Henry Jones said he had been scared because he saw his housemate, 55-year-old Mark Beresford, reaching for a kitchen knife following the argument and feared he was going to be stabbed, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Jones, now aged 23, said the argument lasted less than minute and he had made a "split-second" decision to hit Mr Beresford with the iron bar.

Jones denies murder.

Giving evidence, the former Stourport High School pupil told a jury he had moved into the house in Offmore Road, Kidderminster, with Mr Beresford in December, 2016, because he wanted to live independently.

Questioned by Timothy Ragatt, QC, defending, he said they paid £200 a month each in rent, sharing the bills equally.

Jones was working from 9am to 5pm in customer services for garden buildings firm Malvern Collections in Bewdley at the time and Mr Beresford worked from 6am to 2pm. He would then go to the pub and return home at 8pm or 9pm with a microwave meal and four cans of Carlsberg Export.

On March 6, Jones lost his job and spent his days going into Kidderminster looking for work, play on his X Box and meet friends.

He admitted he had £4,000 worth of debts and was being pursued for payment. He told Mr Beresford about this shortly afterwards and there was an argument over paying the bills.

"It was a touchy subject because I could understand where he was coming from but I told him I would have money to pay," Jones said. "He wouldn't listen. He told me I would have to get out if I couldn't pay the bills. He said he knew people who would kill me."

Jones said he was "shocked and scared" at the threat.

On March 24 this year, he suspected Mr Beresford had been going through the personal papers he kept in his room. In retaliation, he went into Mr Beresford's room and took a £10 bag of "weed" from his drawer which he smoked during the day.

He said Mr Beresford had come home and had been drinking. A post-mortem showed he had 115 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of blood and the legal driving limit is 80 micrograms, the jury has been told.

Mr Beresford, who was five feet six and weighed eight stones, confronted him and said he wanted him out of the house. Jones told the jury he responded to him throwing a punch by punching him in the face, knocking him down against a bookcase. He kicked him as he was on the floor. Mr Beresford got up and went into the kitchen and Jones saw him at the sink, cupping his hands and putting water over the wound on the back of his head.

He then saw him reach for a kitchen knife and picked up a 47cm (18 inch) metal bar weighing nearly four lbs from the top of a toolbox and hit Mr Beresford on the head. He fell to the floor with a brain injury caused by a fractured skull. Mr Beresford never regained consciousness and died the following night in hospital.

Jones said he "panicked" and tried to help him by putting a towel under his head and holding another towel against the wound.

He admitted he had lied to the ambulance control, the paramedics and the police by saying he had been out of the room when he heard Mr Beresford fall over in the kitchen.

Cross-examined by Jonas Hankin, QC, prosecuting, Jones denied he had waited more than twenty minutes to call an ambulance. He said he had helped them with Mr Beresford and then had gone to a friend's house to "smoke some spliffs" and drink the four cans of beer Mr Beresford had brought home because he was not thinking clearly.

He returned at 12.30am on March 25 and when he woke up later in the morning he mopped the kitchen. Later in the day, he went out with friends, he told the jury.

He denied a suggestion by Mr Hankin that he had delayed calling the ambulance so that he could clean up the kitchen and the bar.

He admitted he caused Mr Beresford's death but it had not been his intention, he said.

"I don't know why I did it," he said. "I didn't want an argument. I didn't want to punch him. I didn't want any of this. I am ashamed."

The trial continues.