A man accused of murdering Mark Noke in Thornhill has blamed his co-defendant, saying "the whole of Southampton knows" he stabbed him.

Aaron Morgan made the comment aimed at co-accused Keiran Claffey whilst answering questions put by Claffey's barrister on Wednesday. 

Having been asked about the events surrounding the death on February 25 last year, Morgan, 32, repeated to the jury that Claffey had been the one with the knife.

He said: "The whole of Southampton knows he stabbed that poor man."

Claffey denies murder.

The jury had previously heard how a gang of five men had mistakenly gone to Mr Noke's flat as part of a plan to steal drugs and cash. 

Daily Echo: Police in Waburton Road, Thornhill.Police in Waburton Road, Thornhill. (Image: NQ)

The 64-year-old suffered a fatal stab wound to his chest with the men then leaving the scene. 

Claffey previously told the jury he did not have the knife, and that he was just a "lookout".

His barrister, Brian St Louis KC, said to Morgan: "We can all understand that you will feel very upset, and upset being a mild word, that you were in any way part of a crime where somebody ends up dying.

"You accept that the wrong address was gone to that night and you accept that an innocent man died. And that has affected you."

Morgan responded: "Of course it has. I didn't expect no one to get hurt." 

Going through the plan for the robbery, Mr St Louis added that one of them would dress up as a pizza delivery driver, which Morgan said was in order to get into the block. 

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"The plan included that no one would get hurt and that when Mr Roach showed the imitation gun everyone expected the person in the flat to freeze and stand still for the robbery to take place, do you accept that?"

Morgan denied this though, having claimed he didn't have any knowledge of an imitation weapon. 

Keiran Claffey, 29, of Keynsham Road; Aaron Morgan of Bursledon Road; Bradley O'Dell, 22, of West Park Road; Justin Roach, 40, of Chapel Road and Leighton Tabone, 24, of no fixed address, deny murder and manslaughter.

Morgan, O’Dell, Roach and Tabone deny conspiracy to rob.

Claffey has already pleaded guilty to this charge.

Nick Haggan KC, representing Roach, later suggested to Morgan that his client had not been involved in the robbery at all. 

He said: "In short what I'm putting to you Mr Morgan is that Justin Roach was not involved in planning, or the execution, or the aftermath of this robbery was he?"

Morgan disagreed with this, claiming that Roach had been one of the masked men who went to Mr Noke's flat in Warburton Road.

The trial continues.