A man accused of racial assault in Evesham told police his brother was stabbed by foreigners and nearly died, a jury was told.

Thomas Crump said two men got out of a car and one of them took something “long and shiny” from the boot.

He heard someone describe them as foreign but stood his ground and at first decided not to back down.

But he became scared by the eight-inch long weapon – either a piece of scrap metal or a bar – and claimed one man came towards him aggressively.

Crump told police in an interview: “My brother got stabbed 12 months ago by foreigners five times. I was not sticking around.”

After a scuffle, he got into an Audi driven by his friend Daniel Moran but police stopped it in Pershore Road, Evesham, and arrested them along with passenger Carl Marchant.

Crump, aged 21, of Lilac Close, Evesham, Moran, also 21, of Winchcombe Road, Sedgeberrow, near Evesham, and Marchant, 36, of Willow Close, Ashton-under-Hill, near Evesham, deny two counts of racially aggravated assault causing actual bodily harm and affray.

The prosecution allege racial abuse was hurled at Rebaz Kadir and Ali Jasmin as they returned from a supermarket to a house in Maycroft, Evesham, on April 24 last year. Mr Kadir told Worcester Crown Court they were both beaten up after three men came on the scene. But he managed to alert police in a 999 call.

Crump said he drank three pints of cider at a pub but a decision was made to drive to a nightclub in Cheltenham.

On the way, he claimed he tried to buy cheap tobacco from a friend living near Maycroft but swore at him because he had run out of stock.

“Whatever I was saying to my friend got misinterpreted,” he said. “One foreigner got on top of me but Dan pulled him off.”

Moran said he left the car after Crump shouted that some people had become violent.

He saw a man with a knife and kicked out in self-defence but did not throw any punches.

He admitted kicking a man on the ground as Crump allegedly held him in a headlock.

Marchant insisted he never got involved in any violence but saw one man wielding a cosh.

Witness Mark Bennett, who lived in Summerfield Gardens, was in his garden at 9pm when he was alerted to a street commotion.

He heard an English voice shouting “get out of my country” and saw four people running at two men who were backing away from punches.

The trial continues.