A WITNESS at a murder trial described how he heard a man scream as he was fatally stabbed.

Tony Ashton told Basildon Crown Court he had been sitting in the stairwell of a block of flats, in Little Lullaway, Laindon, when he heard a male and a female arguing.

He said he heard the woman shout in an angry tone: "You owe me money. I want it. I want the money."

Then, the man replied: "I haven't got it, I haven't got it."

Mr Ashton said he walked to the first floor of the flats to see what was happening in the car park below.

He claims he saw a woman punch a man she was holding over the bonnet of a white car as another man drew back his fist.

Mr Ashton says he then moved away from his viewing point, but heard the male cry out: "She's stabbed me. Help!"

He said he saw Ricky Wyatt, who was clutching his stomach, stagger forwards as a dark blue "Fiesta-shaped and sized car" left the car park.

Mr Wyatt, 34, of Royal Court, Laindon, died of a single stab wound outside the flats on September 1 last year.

Kathryn Taylor, 33, of Gaywood, Laindon denies murdering him.

Matthew Boulton, 30, of Victoria Avenue, Southend, denies assisting an offender.

Another witness, salesman, Sameer Noor, who was in the area on business, told the court he had been walking from his car towards the flats when he saw a man and woman standing by a faded blue Fiesta car shouting to another man who was standing near the flats.

He said: "I was stood knocking at a door and heard the screech of a car tyres. It drove on the wrong side of the road. There was a man and a woman in the car. It drove off in a rush."

But Paul Hynes, defending Kathryn Taylor, pointed out Mr Noor had failed to pick her out from a police identy parade.

The trial continues.