Man 'offered sex to knife victim'

A MAN who made a frenzied knife attack on a dance student offered to have sex with him as he apparently lay bleeding to death, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

Peter Kyte, for the prosecution, said that Anthony Jewhurst, 40, asked his victim, Philip Connolly: 'If I thought I was going to die I would like to have sex with someone. What about you? What would you like?'

Mr Connolly, 19, who was studying at the London Studios Centre, King's Cross, said he met Mr Jewhurst while sunbathing in Kennington Park, south London, last May. Pretending to be a removal man, Mr Jewhurst offered him pounds 50 to help with a flat move.

He drove to his grandmother's empty flat in Croydon, south London, where in a 'frenzied attack' he stabbed Mr Connolly five times in the back with a 12-inch (30.5 centimetres) kitchen knife. Mr Connolly told the court: 'Blood was everywhere on the walls, the cabinets and the wardrobe.' He managed to disarm his attacker but lost consciousness. An hour after coming round he managed to persuade Mr Jewhurst to take him to hospital.

Mr Jewhurst, a signwriter, of Selhurst Road, South Norwood, south London, denies attempted murder and wounding with intent.

The trial continues today.