Accused explains why he fled flat
window while still holding the knife because he believed that his love rival Mr Atkinson was still outside the flat and would harm him.
He told the court: “I thought I’m leaving out of the window before I get attacked.
“I believed I’d cut his hand at the most and was just leaving the scene.
“I’m a known fighter in the area and I’m not going to call police. I’ve never called police in my life about a thing.
“I put the knife in my hand and just dangled and dropped. I felt safer at that moment to keep it on me and run.
“I left thinking that he was still outside that door. There was blood on that knife so, of course, I was going to flee the scene.”
King told the jury that he then drove to the River Colne where he dumped the kitchen knife because of the blood before driving to Stephanie Bowman’s Linthwaite home.
The 27-year-old is accused of assisting King by hiding him at the Pennine View address until a raid by armed police two days later.
King testified that he told Bowman that he thought he’d cut Mr Atkinson and got rid of the knife during a ‘brief conversation.’
He claimed that he only found out that the victim had died the next day.
King told the jury that he looked on Bowman’s phone and discovered stories on ExaminerLive about a serious police incident in Lockwood.
King said: “I looked on Facebook and found out that he’d died. I broke down. I was so confused and all I did was cry (as) I felt to blame for that. “I just thought ‘I’m going down for this.’” He told the court that he then smashed up his mobile phone and wrapped it in foil because he had made the decision to end his life and didn’t want to be found.
King claimed that he did not hide at the house as ‘it’s clear I didn’t mean to kill him.’
He insisted that the string of threatening messages he sent the victim in the months leading up to his death were horrible but a ‘far-fetched reflection of anger’ after he discovered that Mr Atkinson had been seeing his ex-girlfriend Shaunie Haig.
He admitted that he was possessive of Miss Haig and started sleeping with Miss WalkerSaunders at the same time as Mr Atkinson to get revenge on him.
King claimed that one message he sent Mr Atkinson threatening to ‘write him clean off’ was ‘just a figure of speech.’
He told the jury: “I can fight, that’s it. It meant that I would throw punches at him at the most. “I never, ever intended to kill him.” The jury also heard details of a text message exchanged between Mr Atkinson and Miss Walker- Saunders in April in which he told her to tell King to meet him in town because ‘I’m going to put that **** to sleep.’
The court was told that a sports bag belonging to Miss Walker-Saunders and containing gym clothes belonging to Mr Atkinson, together with a knife, were found by police at her neighbour’s flat.