A MAN accused of murdering a 36-year-old Forest man last year claimed it was an accident, a court has heard.

Michael Beach, 45, is alleged to have stabbed his friend Scott Hopkins in the chest at a flat in Cinderford High Street on Friday, December 8, 2023, prosecutor Richard Posner told the jury at Gloucester Crown Court. 

Mr Hopkins met with friends and his wife at the Upper Bilson Inn and were in good spirits, said Mr Posner.

The jury was told that the relationship between Mr Hopkins and Beach was such that there was a lot of banter.

“After a couple of hours Mrs Hopkins left to buy a Chinese takeaway meal on the way home. Mr Hopkins told his wife he would follow shortly,” added Mr Posner.

“She recalls that everybody in their group was in a good mood, but this was this the last time Mrs Hopkins saw her husband alive.

“Mrs Hopkins spoke to her husband on the phone a short while later at 8.20pm and he reiterated that he wouldn’t be long. She recalls him giggling, but coherent. Mr Hopkins’ friends ribbed him about this conversation.”

The jury heard that Mr Hopkins and Beach later went with Phillip Parry to his flat before going home. 

Mr Posner said: “At around 10pm Mrs Hopkins tries calling her husband, but she didn’t get any response. She was going to tell him she was going to bed and for him not to wake her on his return.”

The jury panel of six men and six women were told that around the same time Beach told Mr Parry that Mr Hopkins had collapsed on the kitchen floor. 

“Beach claims he picked up a kitchen knife to chop up his cannabis and when he turned around Mr Hopkins walked straight into the knife he was holding,” said Mr Posner.

“Mr Parry attends to Mr Hopkins on the floor and immediately calls the emergency services at 10.05pm reporting that he is with an unconscious man with blood coming out of his mouth. Mr Parry begins performing CPR, following the call handler’s instructions. 

“Mr Beach then goes outside and flags down the ambulance as it heads along the High Street in Cinderford. 

“He tells ambulance crew member Louise Wilcox and another medic that ‘he’s dead’ as they enter the ground floor flat and see that Mr Hopkins was lying on the floor, which was covered in blood. 

“There was so much blood on the floor that the circumstances could not have been an accident, Ms Wilcox recalls. They found the stab wound laceration of three-and-a-half centimetres in length and nine centimetres deep which had nicked Mr Hopkins’ heart and left lung. 

“Mr Beach is then alleged to have said, ‘I’ve killed him’ and he further explained, ‘We were just arguing’ he claimed.

“Because of the seriousness of the situation Mark Leach, another paramedic arrived, who quizzed Mr Beach about where the knife was. Mr Beach pointed to the kitchen sink. Mr Leach then orders Mr Beach to go outside.

The jury was told that over the next 40 minutes numerous paramedics attended the incident, now classed as critical, as did the police. 

“The paramedics stop resuscitation at 11pm, Mr Hopkins is recorded as dying eight minutes later.” 

The ambulance service operations manager Samantha Morris spoke with Beach who claimed Mr Hopkins had come to give him a cuddle and the knife got between them.

The jury heard that Mrs Hopkins recalled getting a call from Mrs Wozencroft urging her to immediately go to Mr Parry’s flat. On her arrival she saw the emergency services and Mr Beach being placed in handcuffs and she heard him say, ‘I did it’.

A short time later Police Sergeant Beasley broke the news to her and a friend that Mr Hopkins had died. 

Beach was arrested on suspicion of murder by police and taken into custody. He told officers: “I didn’t stab him, he ran into the knife.” 

The court heard that fingerprints and DNA evidence taken from the knife, which had a blade of 19.7cm long, showed that it had been used by Beach. 

Pathologist John Williams confirmed that the stab wound was a significant factor in Mr Hopkins’ death, who had also suffered a blood clot in his heart.

Mr Posner said Beach continued to claim that it was an accident and added: “But it’s the Crown’s position that it doesn’t believe Mr Beach’s version of events, because the evidence suggests that he wasn’t telling the truth of what really happened in that kitchen.

“It is the prosecution’s case that Mr Beach used the knife as a weapon. He is accused of murdering Mr Hopkins having stabbed him in the chest with a large kitchen knife and by doing so he intended to cause him at the very least serious harm. That intention caused Mr Hopkins to die.” 

Beach of Ruspidge Road, Cinderford, denies murder and the trial continues.