A BOURNEMOUTH man stabbed a 16-year-old student to death on Horseshoe Common last year, a court heard.

The bloodstained and partially unclothed body of Bournemouth and Poole College student Linda Lietaviete was discovered by paramedics in the early hours of December 13.

She had suffered seven stab wounds to her torso, the deepest of which was seven centimetres.

Alvin Jay Santos, 26, denies her murder.

Prosecutor Kerry Maylin told Winchester Crown Court that Santos and Linda were friends and had met up a few hours before her body was found.

She said the jury would see evidence Santos bought a bottle of vodka, and the two were seen talking on the common by witnesses at around 9pm.

Ms Maylin said one of Linda's friends grew worried when she failed to return home, and called the police.

"It quickly became apparent that Linda was not going to be found alive," she said.

"How did the police know this? They received a 999 call from a young woman called Catherine Santos, this defendant's sister."

She said Santos' sister told police her brother had confessed to stabbing "a lady" in "Horseshoe Park" and "she had done the only thing she thought she could".

The jury heard that when interviewed by the police in the days following Linda's death, Santos said: "I stabbed her, and she was barely breathing."

The officers who arrested him said they found him "moaning and crying" on the floor of his home in Wimborne Road, saying "kill me, kill me", said Ms Maylin.

She said the jury would have to decide whether Santos had intended to take Linda's life or cause serious harm.

In his police interview, it is alleged, Santos claimed to have suffered rage-induced "black-outs" since he was assaulted a few years prior, suffering a broken jaw.

He claimed to have blacked-out on the night of Linda's death when she told him she was responsible for that same assault.

"When he came round a few moments later he saw Linda on the ground, he was holding a knife," said the prosecutor.

The court heard that Santos claims he carried a knife as a result of the earlier assault. The jury were also told that he he said her partially undressed Linda after she had been stabbed so police would not find blood stained clothing.

He claimed Linda had been romantically interested in him, but he had not seen her in that way.

The trial continues.