A teenager accused of murder said he stabbed the victim in self-defence as he 'feared for his life' in a hammer attack.

Warren Ricardo Blake, 18, and Tevin Birmingham, 21, allegedly stabbed Andrew McGowan to death at a Great Yarmouth flat, used for drug dealing.

Norwich Crown Court has heard that violence flared after Mr McGowan turned up at the flat in Dickens Road armed with a hammer, in the hope of stealing drugs from the two men.

Mr McGowan suffered five stab wounds, including one to his heart.

Blake, of Thorncliffe Road, London, and Birmingham, of William Kett Close, Norwich, have both denied murder on November 14, last year, and the supply of cocaine on the same date.

Also in the dock are Charlene Barber, 34, of Dickens Avenue, Yarmouth, and Kevin Wood, 45. of Nelson Road Central, Yarmouth, who deny perverting the course of justice.

Giving evidence, Blake, who was only 17 at the time of the stabbing, admitted that he had previously been dealing drugs in Great Yarmouth, but on the day of the incident he had sold all the drugs he had.

He said that he and Birmingham were about to eat a takeaway when Mr McGowan burst into the room armed with a hammer and wrongly accused Blake of selling drugs to his pregnant wife.

'I had never seen him before. He was swinging the hammer about,'

He said that Birmingham was terrified and tried to run away but Mr McGowan chased him up and down the stairs.

He said that Mr McGowan then came back into the room with Birmingham and told them: 'No one is leaving here. I was scared at the time.'

He claimed Mr McGowan tried to hit him with the hammer, and said he thought he would get Birmingham to pass him a bottle to fend off Mr McGowan but Birmingham was frozen with fear.

Blake said he then picked up the kitchen knife he had been using for his food and stabbed Mr McGowan, who was still swinging the hammer.

He added: 'I never intended to kill him . I thought he was going to kill me. It was either him or me, that is how I saw the situation. I thought my life was at risk.'

He said after the stabbing, he fled the scene and went with Birmingham to London as he had panicked.

'I was scared at the time and thought I was going to jail for 30 years.'

Blake admitted that he had been the one to inflict the stab wounds on Mr McGowan in self-defence and said Birmingham had played no part.

The trial continues.