Ian Bryan, 58, of St Margaret’s Road, St Leonards, is charged with attempting to murder 17-year-old Josh Catterall and 32-year-old Liam Roberts at a basement flat in St Margaret’s Road on Wednesday, April 22. Mr Catterall, who had been staying in the area while replacing a lift at a Bexhill care home alongside Mr Roberts, suffered a 2cm stab wound to his neck and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, where he underwent surgery. Today (Thursday, October 29), Mr Bryan told a jury at Brighton Crown Court ‘I must have caused that injury’ but said he did not know how. He denies two counts of attempted murder. Mr Bryan said had been in his ground floor flat at about 8pm on April 22 when he heard music and shouting coming from the basement flat next door. He said he shouted out of his kitchen window at two men below – Mr Catterall and Mr Roberts – and asked them whether they should be in the flat as it was a holiday let and the country was in lockdown at the time. Mr Bryan claimed the two men were aggressive in response and started shouting at him. He said Mr Catterall climbed onto a wall and shouted insults in his direction. At 8.15pm, Mr Bryan called police and claimed two men were breaching lockdown rules. On the call, he requested the operator looked on the Police National Computer (PNC) to see what he was ‘capable of’. The prosecution claims he was referring to two convictions for manslaughter from 1995 when he stabbed his female partner and another man to death after finding them in bed together. In his testimony, Mr Bryan claimed he was referring to a separate incident, from May 2000, when he was involved in a fight with bouncers at a nightclub. In that incident, Mr Bryan grabbed a knife and broke the leg off a chair to use as a weapon, and later pleaded guilty to affray. On Thursday, he told the court he called the police after hearing banging on his lounge window, which he assumed was from the two men downstairs. After this banging and before calling police, he bumped into his neighbour Dennis Day, while armed with a knife. Mr Day previously told the court he was shocked to see the knife and told Mr Bryan to get rid of it. The defendant then returned to his flat, according to Mr Day. The court previously heard that Mr Catterall and Mr Roberts left their flat shortly after the incident in the garden and went to get some takeaway food from St Leonards seafront. CCTV footage from a nearby bus station captured the two men walking back to the flat, holding food, at 8.33pm. At 9.26pm, Mr Bryan called police for a second time and said: “A crime is about to be committed. I called about an hour ago, nothing has been done, and I am not going to be taunted anymore, I will react. “I’m about to go next door and kill somebody and knife them...I’m on my way now. I don’t get taunted, I’ve never been taunted in my life.” On Thursday, Mr Bryan said he ‘never intended to kill anybody’ when he left his flat that evening, but after trying to get the police to come he decided to confront the men about the banging on his window. He said: “Nobody would call the police and tell them they were going to commit a crime if that was their intention. That would be silly. “I was not intending to commit a real crime. That was the final straw. I tried everything to get the police to come.” Mr Bryan claimed he went downstairs to ask why Mr Catterall and Mr Roberts were banging on his window and took the knife for protection as the two men were ‘much bigger and fitter’ than him. The prosecution alleges Mr Bryan slashed Mr Catterall’s neck as soon as the teenager opened the door and then ‘lunged’ at Mr Roberts, who managed to restrain Mr Bryan before knocking him unconscious by ‘kicking or stamping’ on Mr Bryan’s head. Mr Bryan claimed he asked the two men why they had been knocking on the door before Mr Catterall punched him. Mr Bryan said he then produced the knife out of his tracksuit trousers and he and Mr Catterall started fighting. It was during this fight, Mr Bryan said, that Mr Catterall suffered the wound to his neck. In police interview, Mr Bryan claimed he had no idea how Mr Catterall had suffered his injury, claiming he had been knocked unconscious by Mr Roberts. On Thursday, Mr Bryan said: “I do not remember how he (Josh Catterall) came by the injury but I must have caused the injury, but I do not know how.” On Wednesday, Michael Wheelhouse, a scientist with expertise in DNA and blood staining, said blood found on the wall in the hallway of the basement flat matched Mr Catterall’s and said the stains suggested blood being cast from something that was wet with blood and in motion. Alan Gardner, prosecuting, claimed this suggested Mr Catterall’s neck was slashed, with his blood being cast off on the defendant’s knife and onto the wall. Mr Bryan said the next thing he remembered was police arriving and shouting about a Taser, but did not remember being Tasered. Having been arrested and while receiving care from paramedics, Mr Bryan said: “I warned you this was going to happen and if you had checked my history you would have known. “They kept provoking me. I told you I was going to do this. There’s only one person going to prison. I’ve killed someone haven’t I and I have history. If you had come earlier this wouldn’t have happened.” The trial continues.