A witness has told Cambridge Crown Court how he watched the “life drain away” from murder victim Christopher West after he was stabbed repeatedly outside the Monkfield Arms pub on October 28 last year.

Matthew Jones, aged 29, told the court that shortly before midnight during a Halloween party at the pub, in Cambourne, he became aware that Daniel Berryman had been stabbed and saw him sitting on a chair near the pub’s kitchen.

He said he and three other people, Christopher West, Richard Cousins and David Kippling, left the pub after being told the man who had stabbed Mr Berryman was outside.

He described seeing a man, who he named as Kai Nazir, smoking a cigarette and told the court Nazir was “as casual as anything, as if nothing had gone on”.

“Chris went straight up to him, but there was no altercation and no words were said.”

He was asked by prosecutor, Angela Rafferty QC, if there had been any aggression from Mr West and he said there had not.

Mr Jones told the court he watched as Mr West and Nazir seemed to be “hugging”, but then he saw what he thought were punches being thrown.

He described it as “waist-height swinging punches” but said he did not see a knife until later.

He said: “Chris then turned to look at us and I watched the life drain out of his eyes – is the only way I can describe it.

He admitted the incident left him “hysterical” and “a bit of a mess”.

He said the next time he saw Nazir, he was lying on the floor and was unconscious.

During cross-examination he admitted his memory of the lead-up and the aftermath of the incident outside were patchy.

During re-cross examination, he told Mrs Rafferty there was nothing patchy about the actual moment Mr West was stabbed and he believed Mr West was “dead before he hit the floor”.

Nazir, 20, of The Crescent, in St Neots, is charged with murder in relation to Christopher West; attempted murder, with an alternate charge of grievous bodily harm with intent, in connection to Daniel Berryman and having a bladed article, all of which he denies.

The case continues.