Labourer claims murder boasts were pure fantasy
Ex-body builder denies any involvement in killing of pensioner
A labourer accused of murdering a pensioner at his Maidstone flat has claimed he was “talking absolute rubbish” when he told others he had killed a man.
John Barham, who has a string of convictions for violence, denied he stabbed John Birney to death because he found out the 69-year-old boasted he had sex with his girlfriend.
The 26-year-old former body builder said he had never attacked the victim, did not kill him and did not have anything to do with Mr Birney’s death.
Barham, of Quarry Road, Tovil, and Allison Tomlin, 48, of no fixed address, both deny murder.
Mr Birney’s decomposing body was discovered at his ground floor flat in Rocky Hill Terrace in Rocky Hill on June 8. He had not been seen since May 30.
He was covered with a curtain on a sofa bed. One of his hands was tied with a belt that came from Tomlin’s coat. Two knives were on the floor next to him, and another blade was wedged in the window.
A post mortem revealed he had 10 stab wounds, including one to the back of his head and others close to his neck. One of his eyes was missing.
Both Tomlin and Barham claimed in evidence they did not know each other and only met after their arrest.
Barham said he met Mr Birney through his girlfriend, Alina Korosteliova, as they had been in the same hostel and were “drinking pals”.
After his release from jail last February, he said he went to Mr Birney’s flat four or five times up to May.
He said: “He was quite funny. He kept trying to give me alco- hol. I didn’t drink. I would rather smoke legal high Spice.
“I used to see him when he walked past the building site. His knees were ruined. He couldn’t straighten his legs.”
Barham claimed Mr Birney’s blood got on to his jeans after the victim was punched by Miss Korosteliova and his nose bled.
The trial continues.