A CAGE fighter admitted in court that he lied to police when being questioned about the murder of a Southampton dad.

Taking to the witness box for the third day, Damon Wright told Winchester Crown Court that he did lie about wearing his fighting gloves when punching Kevin Wyeth.

He also told the court how he “felt bad” about hitting Kevin “so hard” and how he was surprised that he had knocked him out as he said he had never knocked anyone unconscious before.

The court saw CCTV from The Penthouse night club in Poole, where Wright drove from Woolston to meet his friend Jordan Miller, who was working on the door of the club.

Wright headed there after paramedics had discovered Kevin in the alleyway between Defender Road and Tankerville Road, more than two hours after he was knocked unconscious.

Wright admitted in court that the footage shows him telling Mr Miller what had happened with Kevin.

He said: “I really felt bad that I hit him so hard and I couldn't really believe I knocked him unconscious.”

The jury also heard how Wright, 32, had initially told officers when he was being interviewed after his arrest that he was bare fisted when he hit the 31-year-old in the Woolston alleyway.

But police later found, the court heard, his fighting gloves in the car of his friend, Mr Miller, and tests showed that they had blood stains, which matched the DNA profile of Kevin.

When asked by Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC why he had lied to police about not wearing the gloves, Wright said: “It was best not to get Jordan involved.”

Mr Haggan also asked the defendant how he had suffered no injuries if, as Wright claims, Kevin had been fighting to the last, when Kevin suffered such extensive injuries that the whole of the front of his face was “free flowing” due to multiple fractures.

Wright said: “Kevin was throwing punches and he missed.”

The defendant also denied that he stamped or kicked on Kevin's head when Kevin was on the floor, insisting that he only threw punches.

Wright, from Poole, denies murder, claiming he acted in self-defence.

Proceeding.