A DRUG dealer told police it was 'either him or me' when arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a Worcester stabbing.

Ethan Bell denies attempted murder, section 18 wounding and possession of a blade at Worcester Crown Court following the stabbing in George Street, Worcester. The 19-year-old of Himley Street, Dudley, claims he acted in self-defence when set upon by drug user Keil Mansfield with a knife.

Mr Mansfield was stabbed three times, once in the chest and twice in the abdomen, on June 11 this year, collapsing in an alleyway near St Martin's Gate car park. Drug user Kelly Payne told a jury of nine men and three women she woke up in a bedroom at the Worcester flat to hear ex-partner Keil Mansfield screaming and opened the door to see Bell holding a knife, looking at her.

She said of Bell: "He's black but he almost turned white. He looked scared. He did look terrified."

She said of her ex-partner: "He thought he was going to die."

Miss Payne said she knew Bell, nicknamed Spoons, carried a knife with him and kept it down his trousers but was challenged by Caroline Harris, for Bell, about why she had not mentioned this in two previous statements.

Miss Payne said she had not been asked about it before and could not recall making a statement at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where Mr Mansfield was taken after the stabbing, though she accepted she had signed it.

Miss Harris said: "Keil Mansfield has come to court. Have you discussed the case with him?"

But Miss Payne said: "We don't speak about it because it affects me really badly."

Sharafat Ali, a taxi driver for Central Taxis, picked up a black male from Hill Street, Worcester, at around 12.20am on Monday, June 12 after receiving a call from a withheld number.

The man had a Jamaican accent. He asked to be taken to Dudley, paying the £75 fare up front. When the man saw police he said: "Is it alright to go to sleep bruv?" He lay down on the back seat as they drove past Asda in Worcester.

DC Richard King visited Bell's partner for a welfare check on June 12, overhearing a male tell her on the phone: "He tried to stab me first. He borrowed me £20. He picked up my knife and tried to grab me with it."

The officer took a note of Bell's Snapchat which read: "This weren't my fault babe. I could be in a grave right now (sad face emoji). It's broke my heart. It will kill me if I lose you forever."

Bell was arrested at Wrens Nest Road, Dudley on June 15. At the custody block at Oldbury he was heard to say: "It was either him or me."

The trial continues.