A WOMAN stabbed her mother’s best friend and neighbour to death when he tried to calm her down after she’d headbutted her mum, a jury heard.

Rebecca Press, 31, from Caerphilly is accused of killing 57-year-old Richard Marc Ash in New Tredegar last summer when she was high on drink and drugs.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to his murder and to assault occasioning actual bodily harm against her mother Michelle Press.

On the opening day of her trial at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Jonathan Elystan Rees KC told the jury Mr Ash was fatally stabbed.

Jurors heard the alleged victim suffered a heart attack after being knifed just above his heart.

The prosecutor told the court that Press, of Second Avenue, Trecenydd, Caerphilly, had then confessed to murdering Mr Ash at Long Row.

“Just after 1.15am on Sunday, July 17, 2022, the defendant Rebecca Press left her ex-boyfriend Ashley Allen a voicemail message,” Mr Rees said.

“She said, ‘Ash, it’s really bad. It’s really f****** bad. I’ve just stabbed someone and killed them.

“I’ve just murdered someone, please phone me now. F*** (screams). I’ve just murdered someone’.

“Indeed, the prosecution says, she had.

“Minutes earlier, Rebecca Press had picked up a knife and stabbed Richard Marc Ash with it, just above his heart.

“Mr Ash, known as Marc, was unarmed.

“The full length of the blade – up to the handle – plunged into his chest, some 7.5cm or so, and pierced the aortic arch above his heart.

“Mr Ash rapidly lost blood from the injured aortic arch, leading to his cardiac arrest and death."

Mr Ash was described as the neighbour and “best friend” of Michelle Press and he had spent the afternoon on July 16 with mother and daughter.

Mr Rees: “Throughout that time, the defendant, who was drinking and had taken drugs, was behaving more and more erratically, eventually headbutting her mother to the nose causing a cut.

“When Marc Ash tried to calm the defendant down he paid the price with his life.”

Press fled her mother's house and was found hiding in an overgrown area a short distance away, the court was told.

When she was eventually spotted by police and arrested on suspicion of murder she “feigned surprise”, asking officers: “Have I murdered someone?”

A health care professional who examined Press at the police station commented how she was shocked at how “oddly calm and jovial” she was.

The next day tests revealed Press had benzodiazepines in her system as well as MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and traces of THC a chemical found in cannabis.

She gave a prepared statement to detectives, which was read to the court and claimed Mr Ash had become “aggressive” towards her despite normally being a “chilled and mellow character”.

She said: “I picked up the closest item to me which was the knife and hit him with it.

“I didn’t intend to stab him in the chest but I accept that is what I did.

“I had no intention to kill Mark, I was acting in self-defence.

“Mark is a six foot plus man and a lot bigger and stronger than me.

“I was genuinely in fear for my safety.”

The trial continues.