A DEFENDANT in a murder trial told a jury yesterday that he was not responsible for stabbing a Risca man to death.

Paul Lewis, 55, who once lectured at a South Wales technical college, told Cardiff crown court that a woman who lived at his home in Elm Drive, Risca, 56-year-old Kathleen Carey, told him she had stabbed Tony Jenkins, 46.

"She went into the hall or kitchen and returned with a knife," he said. Lewis and Carey both deny murdering Mr Jenkins in his Holly Road flat. He was found in his bedroom with 18 stab wounds, two of which, to the lungs, were fatal.

Former aeronautical engineer Lewis said that during a row about drugs Mr Jenkins lunged at him and rained down blows, after which Lewis retaliated and walked out of the flat.

Lewis said he was not aware of anyone using a knife in the struggle. Lewis said he had been married three times, twice when working in Indonesia.

He said he had mental health problems including schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism, drank three litres of cider a day and took cannabis, amphetamine and prescription drugs.

His relationship with Carey, he said, was not physical. On May 14, he told the jury, Mr Jenkins went to his flat, where cannabis was smoked, and Mr Jenkins left to get more.

He and Carey went to Mr Jenkins' flat, drank alcopops and cider and smoked cannabis.

When Carey had the drugs argument with Mr Jenkins, he said, Mr Jenkins suddenly lunged at him, overpowering him, and kicked him to the head and body, stamped on his legs and pulled out his hair. Carey, Lewis said, was behind him, striking him with a fist. "At no time had I ever been in possession of a knife," he said.

He told the jury he succeeded in getting off the floor, where he had fallen, and hit Mr Jenkins to the head with a bottle.

The fight progressed to a settee, where Lewis said he hit Mr Jenkins in the face three times. On Lewis' fingers, he said, were eight rings and they cut Mr Jenkins' face.

Lewis said Mr Jenkins shouted at him to get "out of my house" and he walked directly out of the door, followed by Carey a few minutes later. They then went home and began drinking again.

"I felt very shook up. I was not conscious of there being a lot of blood on me and my clothing," he said. Proceeding