A BOURNEMOUTH man told a court yesterday he wishes he could have saved the man he is accused of killing.

James Kinsley admitted to a “scuffle” with Angelo Rodrigues after partner Tracy Mansell complained about noise, but said he played no part in the murder.

However, the prosecution claims Mr Rodrigues was “left to die” after being fatally stabbed with a pair of scissors.

Kinsley said Mr Rodrigues was able to stand in the doorway and shout abuse after him following the fight.

He told the court it was only when the couple returned to Mansell’s flat, and spotted a patch of blood “the size of a grapefruit” on his jeans, that he realised Mr Rodriges had been seriously hurt.

He said: “I asked her how it got there – I’d seen blood coming out of his mouth, but only a smear.

“She said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you – I think I’ve stabbed him about 20 times’.”

He said he regretted not going back to the flat when he understood what happened.

“I panicked,” he said.

“That’s the decision I have got to live with. Maybe I could have helped him.”

Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC said Rodrigues suffered a “pretty severe beating” before he died.

“The prosecution’s case is that you and Tracy bundled him into his flat, down the hallway, along past the kitchen and the bathroom and into the bedroom, where he was attacked,” he said.

“She stabbed him while you were holding him down.”

Forensic officers discovered three blood spatters on the sheet, pillow and inside arm of a chair.

Mr Reeds said this was caused by Kinsley pinning Rodrigues down and repeatedly punching him.

“You left him to die,” he said.

“When you left, he was not standing in the doorway shouting anything – he was bleeding to death in his flat.”

James Kinsley, 40, of Hinton Road, Bournemouth, and his partner Tracy Mansell, 56, of Coleman Road, West Howe, are accused of murdering Angelo Rodrigues on July 27 last year.

Mansell has admitted stabbing Mr Rodrigues 20 times with a scissor blade at his flat, but claims diminished responsibility due to her mental state.

'False information'

THE court was told Kinsley lied to police.

The prosecution said he changed his account of the incident on more than one occasion, including information on when he saw the blade.

He now says he first saw the blade in Mansell’s hand after they left Mr Rodrigues’s flat, although he said he could not recall if there was blood on it.

However, Peter Birkett QC, defending, said Kinsley was given “false information” by police that affected the way he conducted himself in interviews.

After Mansell was arrested, she gave four “no comment” interviews, but Kinsley was told by police: “What I can tell you at this time is that she is not saying you didn’t do anything.”

At a later stage in his first interview, he was told: “She [Mansell] is not writing you out of this.”