Another witness to the attack on Barry Cooper in a passageway of a block of flats in Victoria Road, Devizes, gave evidence this morning at Winchester Crown Court.

But the witness, Matthew Barnes, 20, of Devizes said he did not see Karl Quincey, the man accused of Mr Cooper’s murder, with a knife and instead said he saw Quincey punch Mr Cooper several times.

He also said key prosecution witness Steven Stiles did not witness the attack.

Mr Barnes was visiting the flat opposite Steven Stiles’ flat which belonged to Roy Haines. Mr Barnes was visiting with his mother Lisa Barnes and her partner Neville Bridewell.

Mr Bridewell was the carer of Mr Haines who at the time was in hospital.

Mr Bridewell and the Barneses were visiting the flat to check on it. Mr Barnes said shortly after they arrived at Mr Haines’ flat Barry Cooper arrived and started talking to his mother and him.

Mr Cooper was attacked in the passageway between Mr Stiles’s flat and Mr Haines’s flat at about 4.30pm on June 27 last year.

Mr Barnes said Quincey put Mr Cooper in a headlock and pulled him backwards to the ground, with Quincey slouched over him.

Mr Barnes said: “The man attacking Barry gave very hard punches to his face and I saw blood on Barry’s cheekbone.”

Mr Barnes said he saw about four or five punches before his mother dragged him inside Mr Haines’ flat and closed the door.

But Mr Barnes said he could hear Mr Cooper calling for help. Mr Barnes said he did not see a knife during the attack and under cross examination by defence barrister Patrick Harrington QC Mr Barnes said he did not see Steven Stiles in the passageway.

Yesterday, in evidence to the court, Mr Stiles maintained he was in the doorway of his flat and witnessed Quincey stabbing Mr Cooper.

Mr Barnes said: “Steve must have been somewhere in his flat, I wasn’t paying attention to Steve. I just saw what I saw.”

When Mr Harrington asked him: “Steve Stiles couldn’t have seen it (the attack) could he?”, Mr Barnes replied, no.

Mr Barnes later identified Karl Quincey as the man who attacked Mr Cooper when he looked at video images of men at the police station.

Another witness, Malcolm Stiles, brother of Steven Stiles, said Karl Quincey confessed to stabbing Mr Cooper when he met him a few hours after the attack.

Mr Stiles was walking in Victoria Road, taking a pair of trainers to Devizes police station for his brother Steven, when he encountered Quincey who was on a stolen mountain bike.

Mr Stiles, who works in Village Veg in Devizes, said: “Karl said 'I did it. I got Barry because he had a go at me on the canal the day before'.”

He said Barry threatened him with a syringe and was going to stick it in him because he had Hep C.”

He said Quincey pointed to his neck and said he got him in the neck. He also said Quincey pulled up his hoodie top when Mr Stiles saw a knife.

Defence barrister Mr Harrington asked him why he hadn’t reported this exchange with Quincey at the time. Mr Stiles said his priority was to get his brother back home and he didn’t know exactly what Quincey had done and he might just have said what he had done.

Mr Cooper, 28, of Eastleigh Road, Devizes, died the next day in hospital. The prosecution say he had been stabbed at least eight times in the neck.

Quincey, 33, of Longcroft Avenue, has pleaded not guilty.

The trial continue