A paedophile’s throat was cut by his drinking partner after he told him he had sexually abused a six-year-old, a court has heard.
Christopher McMahon, 48, left David Potter, 50, for dead face down on the floor of his flat in Tooting, south London, after repeatedly stabbing him in the early hours of 21 August last year, the Old Bailey was told.
Potter, who had convictions for sex offences against children, was found dead five days later after police forced entry to his property when a friend became concerned.
The jury was told that after the incident, McMahon went to his on-off partner’s house still soaked in his alleged victim’s blood and told her: “I’ve done it.”
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors: “Mr McMahon said he had slit a man’s throat and indeed he had.”
She said McMahon told his partner the man was a paedophile who told him he had molested a six-year-old.
“Mr McMahon admits he was the person who stabbed Mr Potter to death,” Whitehouse told jurors.
“The question for you will be why Mr McMahon did that.”
The court heard McMahon had been in possession of a Stanley knife at his girlfriend’s flat a few days before the alleged murder.
On the night of 20 August, he was drinking at Potter’s small studio apartment above a convenience store, where he lived alone, while another man left in the early hours of the following day.
“There is no doubt that in the early hours of that morning Mr McMahon stabbed Mr Potter repeatedly,” Whitehouse said.
“His clothing and shoes were covered in Mr Potter’s blood and the trainers he was wearing left footprints in blood all over Mr Potter’s flat.
“After stabbing Mr Potter in the early hours of that morning, Mr McMahon left him dead or dying face down on the floor of the flat.”
Police officers found Potter in a pool of blood when they forced entry to his home on 26 March.
A post-mortem examination found he had a number of stab wounds to the neck, the most severe of which had gone through to the spine and cut numerous blood vessels including the jugular vein.
Potter also had defence wounds to his left arm and hands, the court was told.
McMahon, of no fixed address, denies murder and the trial continues.