Karl Quincey told a former girlfriend, Tina Strawson, that he was going to use knives that he had to “get Barry Cooper”.

Mrs Strawson, 37, told Winchester Crown Court this afternoon that she met Quincey two days before Barry Cooper was stabbed.

She was returning home after shopping when Quincey stopped her in Victoria Road, Devizes.

“I was talking to Karl and he said in the next couple of days he was out to get Barry Cooper because he reckoned it was Barry’s fault when Matthew Baggott got stabbed.

“He lifted his tee shirt up and showed me two knives. He said he was going to use them to get Barry and he didn’t care if he gets life for doing it.”

Mrs Strawson told the court that she and Quincey had a relationship when they were teenagers.

Under cross examination from defence barrister Patrick Harrington QC, he asked her why she didn’t report this threat to the police. She said: “Because I have my four children to think about.”

She added that, when she reported Kevin Comley to the police for carrying knives, they did nothing about it.

Mr Harrington suggested that Quincey did not show knives to Mrs Strawson nor that he said what she had claimed. But Mrs Strawson insisted what she said was true.

Quincey denies the murder of Barry Cooper and the trial continues on Wednesday.