Man 'lights fire and stabs neighbour', court told

Samuel Huggins is standing trial at Ipswich Crown Court, charged with attempted murder, GBH with intent, arson, and threatening with a blade

A man set fire to a block of flats before repeatedly stabbing his neighbour in the stomach with a kitchen knife as he tried to flee the burning building, a court was told.

Samuel Huggins, 55, of Station Street, Ipswich, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court charged with attempted murder, GBH with intent, arson, and threatening with a blade.

He is alleged to have started a fire in his own flat as part of a "ruse" to coax his neighbour, Gary Kerr, out of his property so he could try to kill him on 26 June.

Prosecutor Kate Davies said Mr Huggins had told Mr Kerr that "one of our lives is going to end today" as he carried out the attack. Mr Huggins denies all charges.

The attack was carried out in a block of flats in Station Street, in Ipswich

The court heard Mr Kerr had been having his coffee and breakfast when he heard a smoke alarm coming from Mr Huggins' flat opposite shortly after 08:00 BST.

As more alarms started to sound, Mr Kerr looked through his spyhole to see what was going on while Mr Huggins, the prosecution says, was "lurking out of sight".

After opening his door, Mr Huggins is alleged to have "appeared from nowhere" before stabbing him in his stomach with an eight-inch blade.

The court heard he then stabbed him again in the same area, with the knife this time also going "all the way through" Mr Kerr's little finger after he had put his hand on the first wound.

Mr Kerr then stumbled back into his flat and fell onto a table in his sitting room, but Mr Huggins "kept coming at him" and delivered another blow with the knife, the court was told.

'Rage behind his eyes'

During the attack, Mr Huggins is said to have told Mr Kerr that "all his neighbours were against him" and that he actually wanted to attack a different, female neighbour.

The court heard that Keith Hamilton, another resident in the block of flats, then appeared from downstairs and was pulled into the flat by the defendant, who threatened him with the knife.

"Mr Huggins said the police and ambulance should be called as he was going to end one of their lives, and Mr Kerr thought he was going to die," said Ms Davies.

"He described seeing rage behind Mr Huggins' eyes and said he was dressed head-to-head in black, rather sinisterly - a deathly outfit for a deathly intent."

Mr Huggins has denied all of the charges

After leaving the building, Mr Huggins reportedly told witnesses: "I just stabbed someone and I have just tried to... kill someone".

The prosecution said Mr Huggins had deliberately set fire to a pile of papers in his kitchen and that his actions were premeditated and he wanted to kill the victim.

"His deliberate and repeated stabbing shows an intention to kill Gary Kerr," said Ms Davies.

The trial continues.