A MAN accused of murder broke down in tears in the dock yesterday as a court heard him tell police "I think I've killed a man".

Roy Campbell, 61, of Oakerside Park, Peterlee, County Durham, appeared before Teesside Crown Court accused of killing his neighbour Ronald Hanley.

He is said to have attacked Mr Hanley with a Gurkha kukri knife at the culmination of a running dispute over several years between the pair, who both lived at Elm Tree Caravan Park, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in April last year.

The court has heard how Mr Hanley, who had drunk five bottles of brown ale that evening, damaged the garden of Mr Campbell, who then, the court heard, attacked Mr Hanley with the knife.

A tape of two phone calls Mr Campbell made to police was played to the jury yesterday.

In the first call, he reported the damage and asked police to come to the scene.

Mr Campbell, sat crying as the court heard him tell a police officer during the second call, made just 11 minutes after the first: "I think I've killed a man. He attacked me. I was just outside looking at the damage when he came flying over."

He asked for an ambulance and told the officer: "I'm all covered in blood. He must be in a bad way."

The court also heard from Home Office pathologist John McCarthy, who found that 56-year-old Mr Hanley had suffered 26 knife wounds.

The knife, he said was 13 inches long, with a nine inch blade.

He described some of the wounds as being made by a "hacking blow" or "chop".

Mr McCarthy said Mr Hanley died despite the "heroic efforts" of staff at Hartlepool General Hospital to save him as a result of shock and haemorrhaging as a result of multiple stab wounds.

The trial continues.