A man who stabbed his friend has gone on trial for murder - even though it was a surgeon's operating table blunder which killed him.

Barman Andrew Ferguson, 29, stabbed 33-year-old Paul Cardella during a violent row, driving the seven-inch blade into his back up to the hilt and the blade came to rest on his heart.

Miraculously, Mr Cardella survived the attack, but died in February after a ventilation tube was inserted into his oesophagus instead of his airway. Newcastle Crown Court heard how he died two weeks later as a result of brain damage.

Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC told the court: "There is to be no doubt that the direct cause of his death was brain damage caused by the brain being starved of oxygen which was in turn caused by the tube being wrongly inserted.

"Although the blade penetrated seven inches and just missed the pulmonary artery and heart it is likely it would have been removed without fatal consequence.

"But, say the Crown, Mr Cardella's stabbing had caused a potentially life threatening injury which required urgent medical intervention in very difficult surgical conditions.

"So far as the anaesthetist was concerned, we do not live in a Utopian world where everyone always carries out his or her role to perfection. Errors can be made, especially in an emergency.

"If this defendant stabbed Paul Cardella without lawful excuse and if his action contributed significantly to the death, not the sole cause or the principal cause, but contributed significantly, then he is responsible in law for the death."

Mr Cardella was taken to Newcastle General Hospital and was transferred to the cardiothorasic department at the Freeman Hospital, where his condition worsened and an operation was carried out to remove the blade.

The court heard how Mr Cardella was intubated in an upright position due to the position of the knife.

Mr Hedworth added: "It was confirmed, wrongly as it transpired, to be correctly placed and the operation could be commenced.

"But it quickly became apparent all was not well, monitors showed the patient's condition was deteriorating rapidly."

Mr Cardella suffered a cardiac arrest on the operating table and never regained consciousness. He died on March 8.

Ferguson, of Jefferson Place, Newcastle, said Mr Cardella had initially attacked him with the knife after a row with Ferguson's girlfriend. He denies murder and the trial continues.