A DRUNK man murdered his great uncle with one of his own knives before disposing of the weapon and his clothes and shoes, a prosecutor told a jury.

Adam Mason denies the murder of Desmond Wooding, stabbed 11 times in the living room of his bungalow in Vines Lane, Droitwich. The 33-year-old of Plough Lane, Tibberton, stands in the dock beside his uncle, 55 year-old Mark Mason, also of Plough Lane. who denies assisting an offender by driving Adam Mason away from Vines Lane after the alleged murder.

In his closing speech at Worcester Crown Court Adrian Keeling QC, prosecuting, said the attack on the 80-year-old on June 23 last year was 'not a burglary gone wrong' and that

Mr Wooding may have let Adam Mason let into his home. Mr Wooding suffered a slash wound to his throat and stab wounds to his chest, one as deep as 8cm, travelling through his lungs and into the heart. The blade used to kill Mr Wooding has never been found though one of the pensioner's knives is missing, the court heard. Mr Keeling told the jury the Mason family disliked Mr Wooding because of the way he had treated his late wife, Colin Mason's sister Maureen, when she had cancer (Colin Mason is the father of Mark Mason and the grandfather of Adam Mason).

He said: "Colin Mason clearly hated him (Mr Wooding)."

The barrister reminded the jury that Colin Mason had 'laughed and laughed' when he heard that Mr Wooding had been murdered and said: "It couldn't have happened to a nicer man."

He told the jury this gave a 'chilling insight into the level of dislike' felt by the Mason family towards Mr Wooding.

Mr Keeling argued that the claims of both defendants to know nothing of this dislike was 'unrealistic' and added: "It would have made sense they would have shared it."

The prosecutor also said Adam Mason had revealed in his first interview that he had known Mr Wooding lived in the end bungalow in Vines Lane but in the witness box denied he had known this. He also said Adam Mason had changed his initial account when it was contradicted by CCTV evidence and described it as a 'remarkable coincidence' that Mr Wooding's DNA was found on Mason's dog lead. The trial continues.