A man accused of slaying a scaffolder with a kitchen knife in a Sutton pub held a knife to his girlfriend's throat just days before the attack, a court heard.

Lee Cooper, 25, of Typhoon Way, Wallington, and his father Anthony Cooper, 57, of the same address, are accused of murdering David Stevenson, 28, at the New Inn pub on August 9 last year.

At The Old Bailey this morning Mr Cooper's former girlfriend Vicky Shirley – who began a relationship with Mr Stevenson a month before he died - told the jury how he held a knife to her throat on August 7 and told her “this is what I'm going to do to your boyfriend”.

Miss Shirley, who is mother to Mr Cooper's two young children, said: “We was rowing about the children; he was trying to get back with me, but I didn't want to.

“Then he held the knife up against me throat. He said: 'This is what I'm going to do to your boyfriend.”

Earlier the court heard how Mr Cooper and his father went to the New Inn pub armed with a meat cleaver and a large kitchen knife.

The defendants, who were already drunk, arrived at the pub around 7.10pm and headed straight for the beer garden where they believed Mr Stevenson was sitting.

Witnesses said the chaotic scenes that ensued bordered on “bedlam” and “pandemonium”.

Mr Cooper later handed himself into police. His father was arrested the next day, August 10, at his house.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.