A MAN fatally stabbed at a New Year’s party “lost his life for the sake of a mobile phone”, a court has head.

Kelly Blackwell, 26, from Retort Close, Southend, and Hannah Sindrey, 24, from Worcester Drive, Rayleigh, are accused of killing Sindrey’s 31-year-old boyfriend, Paul Fletcher.

He was stabbed through the heart at her home in Rayleigh.

In closing arguments yesterday, prosecuting barrister Christine Agnew QC told jurors the Crown believed both women to be responsible for the killing of Mr Fletcher – known by friends as Dod.

“What a sorry tale this is, in a New Year, still in lockdown for some, a New Year full of hope, a man has lost his life for the sake of a mobile phone,” she said.

The trial had previously heard that Mr Fletcher took the women's phones after taking cocaine and becoming paranoid that Sindrey may have been cheating on him.

“This was an evening that Dod wanted to be special and a success. He had spent a small fortune. He had bought £400 of fireworks, he had bought the alcohol, and he wanted it to be a party.”

She added; “We the prosecution say, that both women, were responsible, as part of a joint attack, for Paul Fletcher’s death. Two women both fuelled with alcohol and drugs, and perhaps most importantly, fuelled with anger and fury. Two women who have lied and concealed truth from the jury.

“At the time of the fatal stab, all that happened was he had taken telephones. He wasn’t threatening any of the women or children.”

The court previously heard Mr Fletcher had collapsed in the hallway after suffering stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Six children, all aged five or younger, were at Sindrey's flat at the time police arrived - two of them Sindrey's children and four Blackwell's.

Sindrey’s defence team claim it had been a row between Blackwell and Mr Fletcher that had escalated into the fatal stabbing, while Blackwell claims Sindrey was solely responsible for the stabbing.

The trial continues.