THE defendant accused of killing a man and attempting to murder his partner was sexually assaulted by the couple before stabbing them, it has been claimed.

David Kilcullen denies murdering Gerry Edwards, 59, and attempting to murder 57-year-old Chris Bevan at their apartment in Page Heath Villas, Bickley, on March 3.

The 46-year-old, of The Avenue, Bickley, claims he stabbed the couple in self-defence.

This morning Mr Bevan told a jury at the Old Bailey via video link that he was asleep upstairs when Kilcullen forced his way into the apartment and began attacking Mr Edwards downstairs.

Mr Bevan said that at around 7.30pm he heard his partner scream and went downstairs to find Kilcullen in the apartment, and that Kilcullen then began to attack him too.

However, Paul Purnell, who is defending Kilcullen, said this was not true.

Addressing Mr Bevan, Mr Purnell said: “He (Kilcullen) had come to the house and gone into the living room by invitation some time before 7pm that night, invited by Gerry, not by you, and at the commencement of the visit you were not there, only Gerry.

“I am suggesting to you that you came into the living room some time around 7pm when Gerry and this man (Kilcullen) were already in the room.

“And I suggest to you there came a time when David Kilcullen fell asleep in the room in one of the chairs and Gerry engaged in a sexual act on him, and that you also participated in that in a minor way, with some fondling.”

Mr Bevan dismissed this claim as “absolute rubbish”.

He said that neither he nor Mr Edwards, who had HIV and was very ill before his death, committed any sexual or violent acts on Kilcullen.

Mr Bevan, a nurse, said Kilcullen attacked him and Mr Edwards without provocation.

Paramedics pronounced Mr Edwards dead at the scene of the attack.

Mr Bevan spent months in hospital in a critical condition and has still not made a full recovery.

The trial continues.