A FATHER-OF-TWO was stabbed to death when a family feud erupted into violence, a court heard.

Lee Hannan was knifed at least six times by Shaun Martin moments after his cousin, Stuart, had a pre-arranged street fight with the alleged assailant.

Mr Hannan, 29, had helped organise the brawl between sworn enemies Mr Martin, 30, and his cousin days after last Christmas.

But when he arrived shortly after the trouble had ended, Mr Hannan got into a dispute with Mr Martin and was knifed in the heart.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that the background to the fight and the fatal stabbing was a case of "macho pride".

Adrian Waterman, prosecuting, told the jury that both Mr Martin and the victim had reputations as hard men and for carrying knives.

Mr Martin - known locally as "Wellard" - was said to have had a dislike of the Hannan family, but had been friends with Lee.

The jury heard that Mr Martin had been drinking heavily with friends at a house in Arundel Road, Grangetown, on the night of the stabbing, and was "fired up" about the prospect of fighting Stuart Hannan.

The showdown was arranged in Tennyson Avenue and both men pledged not to take weapons and to have their confrontation "one-on-one".

But the court heard that Stuart Hannan asked his brother Carl to wait nearby and promised he would call his cousin, Lee, if he got into trouble, while Mr Martin had two friends hiding close by.

Mr Waterman said Mr Martin stripped off his shirt and bounced around like a boxer as he waited for Mr Hannan to show up.

After the fight, in which Mr Hannan was said to have come out on top, he and his brother left the scene.

But because Lee Hannan could not get a reply to calls he was making to his cousin's mobile phone, he arrived in Tennyson Avenue at about 1am.

It is said he and Mr Martin chatted and suddenly Mr Martin was seen to lunge forward and Mr Hannan reel away and collapse.

"Whatever it was - something the deceased said, something the defendant said, or something the deceased did - the defendant overreacted to the events with the use of considerable violence, stabbing the deceased at least six times, probably more," said Mr Waterman.

"Those stabs included ones to his throat, his chest and his back. Whatever precisely went on as they struggled, it is clear, the Crown will submit, that the defendant used unlawful force."

Within minutes of the stabbing, Stuart Hannan and his father, Tom, called Mr Martin on his mobile, and the killer is alleged to have said something like: "I've killed one of you and will do the same to the rest."

After his arrest, Mr Martin told police he had been stabbed several times with a screwdriver by Lee Hannan, and had acted in self-defence.

Mr Martin, of Kingsley Road, Grangetown, denies murder and the trial continues.