THE man on trial for his friend’s murder cried and told a policeman of how he had committed “the big one” after he was arrested, a jury heard yesterday.

Paul Mapps, 26, of Marshfield Court, denies murdering Ian Davies, 27, at his Marshfield Road home on January 11 this year.

The two police officers who arrested Mapps and took him to Newport Central Police Station said his eyes were glazed over and he was unsteady on his feet when they detained him at about 10.20pm at a house on Pentwyn Terrace, about 50 minutes after Mr Davies died.

PC Dean Harris and PC Gareth Howlin both told Cardiff Crown Court that when Mapps was arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Davies in Trinant, he asked them: “Murder? Murder?”

Mr Harris said he sat with Mapps at the back of a police van on the way to Newport and the accused told him that he had taken cocaine, mephedrone and ketamine that night.

He said Mapps drifted in and out of consciousness and Mr Harris said: “There was a time when Mr Mapps became fairly upset, starting to cry.”

As he was waiting to be questioned at the police station, Mapps allegedly said: “This is the big one” and “I’ll do 15 years.”

The court also heard from another officer who administered first aid to Mr Davies as he lay dying in his kitchen.

PC Rhys Caddick, a member of Gwent Police’s firearms unit, said he found Mr Davies’ house front door was shut but unlocked when he arrived at 7.20pm. He walked in, shouted that he was from the armed police unit and found Mr Davies wounded.

He attended to Mr Davies’ stab wound with a dressing and told the court the victim was “conscious, breathing and responsive”.

But Mr Davies quickly became increasingly incoherent, the bleeding from his wound increased and he fell unconscious. Paramedics took him to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, where he died at 9.30pm.

The court also heard from a Gwent Police crime scene investigator, Detective Constable Colin Parker, who inspected the house after Mr Davies’ death.

He said he found a knife on a tray in the kitchen fridge which belonged to a set of six knifes, four of which remained in the set.

He said he also recovered a vodka bottle, which was about an eighth full, and said another had been smashed at the front of the house.

Proceeding