Taking to the stand at Bristol crown court yesterday to continue giving his account of event at the murder trial Hayden Maslen, 19, told the jury: “I didn’t know him, why would I want to kill him?”

A fight between Maslen and Jordan Taylor escalated when Neil Vaughan turned his car around and headed towards the two young men, and Mr Taylor shouted: “Do you want to get ran over for a f****** bag? Do you want to die for a bag?”

The court heard how Mr Taylor pulled the bag off Maslen’s shoulders, ripping the strap off, and then hit Maslen with the strap.

The jury were told how Maslen, 19, of Park Street, Trowbridge, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder, manslaughter, wounding with intent and unlawful wounding of Jordan Taylor, but guilty to possession of a bladed article, went into the open bag, unzipped the inside pocket which held the knife, took it out and released the blade.

After punching at Mr Taylor with the knife, who was still trying to grab and punch Maslen at this point, Maslen turned to run, but Mr Vaughan was now out of the car and standing in front of him, the court heard.

Maslen told the jury Mr Vaughan had his hands up as if to grab his shoulders or neck, when he also punched at Mr Vaughan with the knife, as he thought he was going to kill him.

Maslen said that after punching at Mr Vaughan with the knife, Vaughan shouted “he’s got a f****** knife lets go”, and Mr Vaughan and Mr Taylor returned to the car.

When asked why he got the knife out of his bag, Maslen said: “I just wanted him to realise I was serious and that I wasn’t going to give him the bag. I didn’t want anything like this to happen.”

He told the court that he believed if the knife had just gone into his skin it would be enough for him to think he was being serious.

Defence Sally Howes QC said: “At the time of the incident, you didn’t know anyone was injured but by the time you were interviewed you knew that Mr Taylor had died”.

During cross-examination, Prosecutor Anna Vigars QC asked Maslen why he didn’t tell Mr Taylor or show him the knife to scare him off.

Maslen replied: “I tried to hold it out but by the time I held it at sort of chest level he was at me again. I didn’t think. I wish I had.

“I was in the middle of being attacked I wasn’t thinking. I thought if he felt it he might leave. It wasn’t until the second or third time I thought I actually must have hit him.”

He also said he was unaware that he had stabbed Mr Taylor in his front, thinking he had only sliced his back.

Ms Vigars asked Maslen about the force he had used when punching at Mr Taylor with the knife. He told the jury it was minimal as he only wanted to make Mr Taylor stop.

Vigars said: “You know the knife went into Mr Taylor at least 9.5cm don’t you? Not once, but twice. In other words, the knife went in the full depth not once but twice.”

Maslen had bought the knife which he thought was cool almost a year previously, from a man in Trowbridge Park for half a gram of cannabis, to protect himself and his family.

Character references by friends described Hayden as a kind, good natured young man, with many calling him a ‘gentle giant’.

During the prosecution’s closing statement, Ms Vigars said: “Had he [Mr Taylor] stayed in the car he would have never come into contact with the vicious knife”, but also stated that Maslen was not looking for trouble that night, that danger came to him.

“What is the point of producing a knife, not showing it, not making any noise about it, not saying that is what you have?

“No doubt it was terrifying, but in the middle of all of that he made a deliberate choice. Maslen was being robbed and made a conscious decision to pull out a knife”.

The trial continues.