The son of a man who died after being run over outside his home has denied he knew the men charged with his father's murder before the fateful day.

Danny Lee gave evidence at the Old Bailey today in the trial of Stuart Palmer, 29, of Kew Bridge Road, Brentford, and Jason Lewin, 34, of Glenthorpe Road, Morden, who are each accused of killing Peter Lee.

Mr Lee, 75, died of injuries sustained when he was run over by a van being driven by Jonathan Palmer in Welham Road, Tooting.

Jonathan Palmer, of Green Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, was also charged with murder but took his own life in HMP Wandsworth, where he was in custody awaiting trial.

He had denied the charges. 

Danny Lee told a jury this morning that on the day Mr Lee died, the two Palmer brothers and Mr Lewin, their half-brother, knocked on his door and asked if his father was in.

He said: "I thought it was a bit strange; they were my age and they were asking for a 70-year-old.

"Then one of them went into his bag and pulled out a knife and lunged at me. I started to shut the door but couldn't.

"They forced the door open, I ran off through the kitchen out to the garden, over the fence and into the road."

Mr Lee said he ran up the road before coming back into the house where he found his brother Terry Lee fighting two of the men in the back garden.

He said: "I ran out into the garden and picked up a meat cleaver and hit Jonathan on the head with the blunt end.

"I was fighting for our lives.

"He did not stay down he ran towards my brother who was fighting Jason and he pushed [Jason] into the pond."

Mr Lee said he jumped into the pond after Mr Lewin and had him in a headlock but denied consciously plunging him under the water.

He said: "I remember saying, 'You fucked with the wrong house'."

Peter Lee then returned from his dentist appointment and Mr Lee said he told his father to call the police.

Mr Lee said: "I was still holding Jason and then I heard a big crash with the car coming through the fence.

"I let him go and went to the car and started smashing the windows with bricks."

Mr Lee said although there had been three men at the door when he answered it he was only aware of two when the fight was going on and does not know what happened to the third, Stuart Palmer.

The defence case is that Mr Lee was visited by the three men that day because he had stolen cannabis from Mr Lewin, later jailed for two years for growing the drug.

Mr Lee denied the theft and knowing the men well but admited he once smoked weed with Stuart Palmer and his own brother Terry Lee in Mr Palmer's flat.

He accused Mr Palmer of stealing his phone that day.

Mr Lee also denied knowledge his brother owned a black metal baseball bat, said to have been broken in half during the fight.

He also denied throwing Mr Lewin off a first-floor balcony after the alleged break in and theft.

The trial continues.