A former cricketer has denied trying to kill a disc jockey in a jealous rage after he saw him on CCTV kissing his wife during an after hours drinking session.
Pub landlord Raoul East attacked victim Andrew Hines with a bar stool before returning to his flat above the bar and coming back five minutes later with a knife.
He told a jury at Exeter Crown Court he fetched the weapon to threaten rather than injure Mr Hines as he lay motionless on the floor of his bar at 5.30 am.
East, aged 38, is a former Somerset and Worcester Second XI cricketer who also played for the MCC at Lords but who became a publican at the Vault Bar in Seaton, East Devon after being forced to give up playing by a back injury.
The prosecution say he tried to kill 45-year-old Mr Hines with a steak knife on January 5 last year after seeing him kissing his blonde wife Debra on the pub's CCTV system.
The jury have been shown footage from the same system which shows two different attacks. In the first he punches Mr Hines eight times, stamps on him four times, and slammed an upside down bar chair onto him before leaning on it.
The CCTV shows him going upstairs and returning with a steak knife in his hand. He stamps on the victim again and can be seen leaning over him with the knife as his wife tries to pull his arm away.
East, of Marine Place, Seaton, denies attempted murder. He has admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He told the jury he had been the landlord of The Vault for ten years and run it with his wife Debra for five or six.
On the night of the attack he had been drinking but was not drunk and had gone upstairs to his flat to watch cricket on television in the early hours, leaving Debra in the bar with Mr Hines.
He said the CCTV monitor was under the television and he was shocked to see his wife kissing Mr Hines.
He said:"I glanced down at the CCTV and I could not believe what I saw. He was my mate and it was not a nice thing to see. I thought we were friends.
"I went straight downstairs. I reacted and went straight down. I intended to hit him. I was angry. I felt betrayed. It should not have happened.
"I grabbed him and got him on the floor. I stamped on his stomach and punched him to his head and stamped on his chest. I aimed the bar chair at his chest and not his head.
"I admit I intended to hit him and to hurt him but I did not want him going into a coma or going to hospital. I did not intend to kill him and I stopped because I did not want it to get any worse.
"He was conscious but disoriented and there were a few moans."
East said he went back upstairs to call his aunt to ask her to come round to look at Mr Hines and went back downstairs with the knife.
He said:"I picked up the knife to scare him. I was pointing at him and shouting at him that I wanted him to stay away from my wife and leave town. I did not want him around.
"I did not intend to hurt him with the knife. He was consciously and got up. Debra saw the knife and would not have known what I was doing.
"She was trying to stop me using it and she grabbed my right arm but I was 25 stone at the time and she was about eight and a half stone.
"I was pointing the knife in his direction and telling him to stay away from my wife and get across to him I did not want him around.
"Debs was pulling at my arm. I was trying to point the knife with a jabbing motion. I was just trying to scare him. I wanted to deter him from coming around.
"I did not intend to cause a wound and when I saw what I had done I went upstairs and watched out for my aunt to come."
Under cross examination by Miss Mary McCarthy he denied being out of control and in a jealous rage and insisted he would have killed Mr Hines.
He said:"If I had been trying to kill him I would have done the job. It was a very sharp steak knife and it would have gone right in if I had used force."
He insisted the stab wound was caused accidentally as his wife was pulling his arm back and he was jabbing it forward.
East played for the MCC Young cricketers, Warwickshire and Somerset Second XIs in the late 1990s, playing with or against future stars including Matthew Hoggard, Graeme Swann and Peter Trego.
He comes from Birmingham and played club cricket with Moseley but his professional career was cut short by injury and he spent four years coaching inner city children before moving to Devon to become a publican.
