A murder trial jury has heard how a Halifax man stabbed his neighbour through the heart and then calmly went back to doing the washing up.

Bradford Crown Court heard today (Monday) that Adam Grant had been involved in previous “fall outs” with his neighbour Martin Wyatt over loud music and rubbish left in the communal area of the block of bedsits on Mixenden Road, Halifax , where they lived in adjoining ground floor flats.

Prosecutor Simon Waley told the jury that the previous incidents had involved banging on doors and walls and some shouting, but a few days before Mr Wyatt’s death his cousin, who also lived in the same block, had overheard another exchange between the neighbours.

Mr Waley said the cousin overheard Mr Wyatt telling Grant to clean up some rubbish and then heard the defendant say:”If you knock on my door again I’ll f***** stab you.”

Bradford Crown Court
Bradford Crown Court

The court heard that at about tea-time on September 28 last year Jamie Brook was in the bedsit with his friend Grant when there was some shouting and loud banging on the wall.

Mr Brook told police in an interview that Grant turned the music up to drown out the banging, but then turned it off as he became increasingly angry.

In his statement Mr Brook alleged that Grant had then taken a large knife from a roll of knives in a drawer and, without saying anything further, he went to his door, unlocked it, opened it and stabbed Mr Wyatt “really fast” in the chest.

After shutting the door Grant is alleged to have gone back to the sink to clean the knife before putting it back in the drawer.

He is then said to have told his friend not to tell anyone before carrying on with the washing up.

The court heard that the knife, which had a 20-centimetre blade, penetrated both the left and right ventricles of Mr Wyatt’s heart and after collapsing at the scene he was pronounced dead despite the efforts of the emergency services to save his life.

Grant, 28, who has denied the murder charge, told police officers when they went to his bedsit that he had been washing up and hadn’t done anything.

Mr Waley said there was no issue now that Grant’s actions in stabbing Mr Wyatt had caused his death, but the jury would have to consider issues of self defence and his intent at the time.

The trial is expected to last about five days.