A JURY has found a Kidderminster man guilty of murdering his "friend" by stabbing him to death with a kitchen knife.

After a two-week trial at Worcester Crown Court, jurors returned a unanimous verdict against Nathan Calder on Tuesday afternoon.

The court previously heard how Calder, aged 28, of Eddy Road, killed 48-year-old Paul Lundy in his Horsefair flat after an evening of drinking on May 22 this year.

Kidderminster Shuttle:

Paul Lundy was murdered in his flat in May this year. Photo from Facebook

Calder denied murder, claiming he stabbed Mr Lundy in self-defence after the victim allegedly “sexually propositioned and manhandled him”.

The court previously heard how the pair had known each other for roughly two years and were “good friends”.

In a statement read in court on Monday, Calder said he would not have stabbed Mr Lundy if he had been sober.

The defendant previously claimed Mr Lundy had asked if he would perform a sex act on him after inviting him up to his flat in Maureen Aston Court.

In a closing statement, Alisdair Williamson, defending, said Calder was a victim of sexual assault.

He told the jury: "What happened was awful. What happened was tragic.

“The law allows in the heat of a threat to do what we instinctively feel is necessary.

“What Mr Calder did was reasonable."

But prosecutor Jonas Hankin described the attack as "focused and determined", using "forceful stabbing at the vital structure of the face and neck".

He said: "By his own admission this went beyond what a sober person would do.

"Whatever he might have said or done or whatever was the cause of the outbreak of violence, the intensity of the violence Mr Calder used in response to an unarmed man was grossly disproportionate and unreasonable.”

Calder is due to be sentenced tomorrow morning.