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I was defending myself says knifeman accused of killing Potter actor
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent23 Feb 2009
THE man accused of stabbing to death Harry Potter actor Robert Knox today told the Old Bailey “I had no option.”
Karl Bishop, 21, said he was being attacked by a mob of youths and was only defending himself with two knives he had brought from home.
“I didn't attack them, I was always going backwards and swinging my arms to keep them away from me,” he told the jury. “I was swinging with my arms holding the two knives — you don't think people would run at somebody with a knife.”
Bishop said he could not remember the specific moments he used the knives but added: “I did not intend to do anyone at all — but they attacked me. There was no other option. They ran at me and attacked me. I had nowhere to go.”
The court has heard how Robert, 18, died defending his younger brother Jamie outside the Metro Bar in Sidcup in May last year. He was stabbed five times and died from internal bleeding.
Bishop, who has two previous convictions for slashing two men in the face in 2005, is also accused of wounding five others in the street brawl.
Robert had just finished filming the role of Marcus Belby in Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince which is due out this summer.
Bishop was watched in the witness box by Robert's parents Sally, 50, and Colin, 55. He told how he had served a sentence in a young offenders' institution for the previous stabbing and carried a knife “for protection”.
He said that he was “really angry,” having been beaten up twice in two weeks. The second time had been earlier on the night that Robert died.
Bishop had gone back to the home he shared with his mother and took two knives. “I took two because two are scarier than one and I was angry at the time,” he said.
“I put the knives in my front pockets and went to scare everybody down there (at the Metro Bar).”
On the way he had a confrontation with a group including Jamie Knox when he pulled out the knives.
Arriving at the Metro Bar he found himself surrounded by a semi-circle of youths. “They were screaming and chucking bottles at me,” he said.
“They were shouting, put the knives away and have a proper fight' so I put the knives back in my pockets. Someone was shouting — I now know it was Robert Knox — he was being more aggressive than most people because he was being held back. I turned towards him and I got smashed in the side of the face and hit my head on the door. I took the knives out and I don't really remember the rest.”
Bishop, of Sidcup, has pleaded not guilty to murder and five charges of wounding with intent.
The case continues.
