On the second day in the trial of Nathaniel Nuttall, who is accused of killing his friend at a property in Tenby Court, Monkton, the jury at Swansea Crown Court heard how the defendant lived in fear of his victim, Lee Thomas.

“I did it because I was scared” he said. 

“But I didn’t want him to die. He was my friend, on the whole. I was scared of him at times, in the same way I was scared of my dad as a kid.”

At around 5.30am on the morning of October 13, 2021, Nuttall, 32, was in the flat of his downstairs neighbour, Mr Lee Thomas, following a night’s drinking. 

The defendant walked into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water where he saw Mr Thomas having a phone conversation with his girlfriend, Sally Roberts.

When Nutall walked back into the living room, he was followed by Mr Thomas who, according to the defendant, said, “Sally hates you”.

“Then he smacked me to the side of my face,” said Nutall.

The defendant then struck out at Mr Thomas, punching him first in the mouth and then, fearing he was going to be hit, to his jaw. 

At this point Mr Thomas fell to the ground however the defendant continued stamping on the back of his head two or three times before finally kicking him in the face.

“I was frightened,” he continued.

“I thought I was trapped inside the room and I thought Lee was going to hurt me. 

"He’d told me in the past that he had a punch like a horse’s kick so I suppose I was feeling a bit paranoid.”

As Nutall walked past Mr Thomas towards the door, he realised that there was no movement coming from the victim.

“I said his name but there was no answer.  It seemed like he’d been knocked out for too long. 

"I tried to lift him up to see if I could bring him round because I was worried about him. I didn’t want to cause him serious injury.”

But when Nuttall noticed blood trickling from the back of his head, he rang 999 and called for an ambulance.

“I wasn’t thinking very clearly but I tried to follow their instructions to try and help Lee, but I got confused when it came to counting seconds.”

Mr Thomas was taken to Withybush hospital where he remained in the Intensive Therapy Unit for the next four weeks.

He was pronounced dead on November 10. Home Office pathologist Dt Stephen Leadbetter told the jury that the cause of his death was traumatic brain injury and sclerosis of the liver.

But during his evidence, Nutall claimed that the events on October 13 were the culmination of several incidents where he had felt fearful and intimidated by Mr Thomas’ behaviour.

Earlier in the summer Mr Thomas had slapped the defendant in the face whilst another friend stamped on his head. 

On another occasion Mr Thomas had threatened him with a knife.

The jury also heard how Nuttall regularly used to go to the shop to collect alcohol for Mr Thomas. 

“He had scabs on his feet and I respected that he felt self-conscious about going out, so I did it to help him,” he said.

“But when he asked me to do those errands, I felt pressurised.”

When asked by the Crown why he hadn’t attempted to move away from the neighbourhood, Nuttall replied, “I don’t know.  Life just happened. I wanted to move but I didn’t know how to get away.”

When asked by the Crown why he continued to go back to Mr Thomas’ flat he replied, “Because I always forgave him.”

Nuttall denies murdering Mr Thomas. The trial will resume tomorrow morning when the jury will hear the judge’s summing up before retiring to consider their verdict.