TEFFERSON Page was invited to his complainant’s house, locked in and smashed across the kneecaps with a wooden bat before using a barbecue fork to fight his way free, a court heard.

Page, 25, of Kirkstall Close in Toothill, is on trial for wounding Winston Booth with intent to do him grievous bodily harm, after striking him twice on the head with a bat and stabbing his left arm and torso.

The crack cocaine user has already admitted unlawful wounding in the early hours of August 17, 2013 at Mr Booth’s home in Westminster Road, Toothill, but he denies the charge of intent.

In the second day of the trial at Swindon Crown Court, the jury heard a transcript of the interview Page had given Wiltshire Police on the day of his arrest last August.

He alleged the injuries suffered by Mr Booth were the result of Page’s attempts to break free from the attacks of the complainant, after being invited to the address and locked in.

“I was effectively imprisoned,” he said. “I got a message to go around there. He locked me in, came into the living room and whacked me across the knees.

“I was kind of in shock. I got the bat off of him. I was hitting him with the bat. He was trying to fight me off, strangling me.

“Lisa (Mr Booth’s partner) came running down the stairs. He’s got me up in the corner by the front door.

“I’m trying to get out and he’s strangling me, he’s strangling me, he’s strangling me.

“At this time I couldn’t breathe. There was a prong fork kind of thing near the door. He was trying to strangle me, so I stabbed him in the arm.

“I managed to fight them off and escape through the kitchen window.”

Page described the complainant as a brother. He said he would regularly visit Mr Booth’s house and be welcomed.

On the night of Friday, August 16, however, Page received a phone call from his girlfriend, who told him Mr Booth, his girlfriend Lisa Corner and two others were sitting outside her home at Bridge House in Farnsby Street.

Page failed to reach the address, but later received a message from a friend, instructing him to visit Mr Booth at his home in Toothill.

The defendant said he was let into the house, as normal. He then alleges Mr Booth locked the door and hid the key while he waited in the living room, before entering with a wooden bat and starting the aforementioned fight.

Page told police he could not walk the morning after the incident, such were the injuries to his kneecaps. He was also treated by hospital staff.

Another witness giving evidence at the trial yesterday said: “He starts shouting ‘come back and fight me’ and then he goes ‘go on, stab me, stab me’.

“And then when Teff leaves, he (Mr Booth) goes ‘you’re stupid, do you know what you have done?’”

The trial continues.