A lab technician was stabbed to death during a ferocious attack in his own home because he was considered an easy touch, the Old Bailey heard today.

The jury heard Anthony Fernandes was knifed repeatedly by three men who broke into his house following an afternoon drinking session in Wandle Park, Croydon in July last year.

The 46-year-old bled to death despite being rushed to A&E soon after the attack in Windmill Road, after intruder Paul Maddix called the emergency services to admit what he had done.

Maddix, 44, has already pleaded guilty to murder, with 27-year-old Darren Liston and a 16-year-old boy currently standing trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said Mr Fernandes had objected to their presence in his home and asked them to leave, at which point the situation became “ugly and murderous”.

He said: “They fell on him with knives, using at least four separate weapons against him - one of which was used with sufficient force to break clean in half.

“Many of the wounds were to his back.

“When it was all done and they realised he was dead, Mr Maddix called the emergency services on his telephone.

“He claimed that he had done it, but can be heard on the recording of that call talking to the others and telling them to leave.”

The court heard Mr Liston wandered the streets after the attack, making calls from telephone boxes before throwing away the blood-stained t-shirt he was wearing.

Mr Heywood said Mr Liston admitted the murder during one of those calls.

He said: ”The prosecution case is that all three of those men entered the flat by breaking in through the outer door.

“They had all been drinking.

“In the case of Linton and Maddix they had nowhere else to live.

“They thought Mr Fernandes, who Mr Liston at least already knew, would perhaps be an easy touch.”

Mr Fernandes, from Broad Green, spent more than 20 years as a lab technician at Epsom College.

Mr Liston and the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, both deny murder.

The trial continues.