A student tried to write his killer's name in his own blood after he was stabbed by a love rival he knew through an internet war games site, a court heard.
By Murray Wardrop
Published: 7:41PM BST 05 May 2009
David Heiss, 21, allegedly travelled from his home in Limburg, Germany, to murder Matthew Pyke after becoming infatuated with his girlfriend Joanna Witton online.
Jurors were shown a photograph of Mr Pyke's computer monitor, on the side of which the letters "DAV" were daubed in blood.
The court earlier heard that Mr Pyke, who ran the Warcentral site, was stabbed 86 times in a "savage and sustained" attack by Mr Heiss, at the flat he shared with Miss Witton in Nottingham.
Giving evidence at Nottingham Crown Court, Mr Heiss was shown the photo of the blood-smeared computer but denied that either he or Mr Pyke could have written it.
Mr Heiss, who adopted the alias Eagle the Lightning on the site, said: "That couldn't have been possible. He was dead when I left."
Shaun Smith QC, prosecuting, asked him: "Did you stand over Matthew and watch him write those letters in blood?" Mr Heiss replied: "No."
Mr Pyke and Miss Witton spent much of their lives on their website, discussing strategies and characters for the computer game Advanced Wars.
Jurors were told that Mr Heiss "lived his life through the internet" and regularly contacted Miss Witton through the site, sending her intimate and bizarre messages.
It is alleged that his obsession with the 21-year-old led him to travel to Britain to meet her, but that after she blocked his advances, he returned on September 19 to murder Mr Pyke.
Mr Heiss said that he stabbed Mr Pyke in self-defence after the 20-year-old physics student "charged" at him with a knife.
He admitted that he had gone to the flat carrying a knife but that during a scuffle inside, Mr Pyke wrestled it from him and tried to attack him with it.
Mr Heiss said: "He lost the knife when it fell to the floor. He tried to crawl towards it but I tried to prevent it by sitting on him. After a few seconds I got hold of it. I was almost sure that if I had lost the knife it would have been my end.
"I don't know if it was adrenalin but I managed to get my arm away and then I stabbed him."
Mr Heiss denies murder. The trial continues.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5280301/Murdered-student-wrote-killers-name-in-his-own-blood-court-hears.html
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