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Drugs dealer Timothy Avril claims he was victim of assault after denying murder of Gus Allman in Folkestone

A self-confessed drugs dealer, accused of stabbing to death a man in a Folkestone flat, has told police he was the victim of an unprovoked assault.

Timothy Avril, 22, has denied murdering 20-year-old Gus Allman in London Road in February in an alleged argument over drugs.

Avril has claimed he was in the flat when two unknown men burst in and attacked him.

Police at the scene in Dover Road, Folkestone, after the stabbing
Police at the scene in Dover Road, Folkestone, after the stabbing

In an interview with two senior officers – which was filmed and played to the jury, he told how he was relaxing in the flat.

“I am totally relaxed, not thinking about nothing. I was happy. My radar wasn’t up.”

He claimed that friend Laura Smith – who is also on trial accused of perverting the course of justice – had gone upstairs to smoke a spliff saying she would return “in a few minutes”.

“I heard a soft knock on my door and I realised it wasn’t enough time for her to have gone upstairs and got high and come back.

“I was thinking nothing of it and just opened the door. I could see nothing. I then took a step back and was about to close the door when boom, boom...straight past my face.

“If I hadn’t stepped back the door would have gone into my face. I saw this man - he was big and black and looked like (the former footballer) Sol Campbell.

“I am thinking: “Ooh what’s going on?’ But no-one said nothing.”

The jury at Canterbury Crown Court heard Avril claim he was attacked by a man carrying a Smirnoff vodka bottle.

He added: “No-one said this is a robbery. He didn’t say anything he was just swinging, swinging, swinging. I backed up and he was just running at me wildly. I was in the kitchen.

Gus Allman was stabbed to death in Folkestone
Gus Allman was stabbed to death in Folkestone

“I saw another guy, a little guy. He was the same guy I had seen earlier talking to Laura, showing her samples.”

Avril said that during the fight he was hit in the head. He (the big guy) was hitting me repeatedly. It was a relentless attack.

"I thought my head was a bell. He was straddling me and still trying to beat me and bust my head and I am fighting back.

“I am trying to get on my feet, just trying to stay alive. I was just fighting for my life. I jumped off the bed and I was panicking. I looked for my money but I couldn’t see it.

He said he managed to get away and “just ran” to the rail station and took a train to London.

After the incident, Avril claimed that he noticed that £1,200 in cash and £100 in coins in a sock had gone missing.

The prosecution has claimed that Avril and pal Damian Daley, 39, murdered Gus Allman during the knife attack. Both deny the charge.

The aftermath of the Gus Allman stabbing, Dover Road, Folkestone.
The aftermath of the Gus Allman stabbing, Dover Road, Folkestone.

Prosecutor James Mullholland QC told how Mr Allman died at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, two hours after the incident.

“The prosecution case is that Avril and Daley are responsible for his death, that they both stabbed him with different knives and that they are guilty of murder."

Mr Mullholland said that Avril "is by his own admission a drug dealer" and police later found wraps of cocaine at the Dulwich home he shared with his mother.

"He was straddling me and still trying to beat me and bust my head and I am fighting back" - Timothy Avril

He claimed that Avril travelled frequently from London to Folkestone to supply drug addicts and used the flat in London Street as a base.

"He rented Flat 2 from Laura Smith and used it as a base for his drug-dealing activities. Laura Smith lived there with her boyfriend, Damian Daley."

Smith, 27, now of Harvey Street, Folkestone has pleaded not guilty to doing acts tending to pervert the course of public justice.

Dean Alford, 20, of Wadden Hall, Canterbury, and passenger Melech Marshall, 18, from New Cross, London have admitted charges of perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.

A fourth man Michael Williams, 20, from East Dulwich has denied an identical charge.

The trial continues.

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