A MAN accused of killing his next-door neighbour with a single punch has told jurors he feared being beaten.
Mark Breen admitted striking Mark Monahan to the side of his face, but insists he was acting in self-defence.
The blow ripped an artery in Mr Monahan’s neck, causing him to suffer a fatal brain haemorrhage.
Breen, of Melrose Road, Kirkdale, denies manslaughter last November.
He told jurors at Liverpool Crown Court he had been talking to Mr Monahan’s housemate, Stephen Essery, when a confrontation broke out.
He said: “I just started to back off. He just kept coming at me, I backed off, I thought I was going to be beaten up.”
The case continues.
