A row over the smoke from a family barbecue left

A row over the smoke from a family barbecue left one man
dead and another charged with his murder.

Terrence Norman’s motive for killing Mr Andrew Kyriacou
was one of the most ‘trivial’ ever heard at the Old Bailey, said
prosecutor Mr David Calvert-Smith.

The 53-year-old lorry driver shouted abuse at neighbour Mr
Kyriacou as he threw water from his balcony to douse the barbecue
and the smoke drifting into his flat.

And when furious Mr Kyriacou, 34, ran to Norman’s flat to
remonstrate a vicious fight broke out and Norman allegedly
plunged a carving knife in his chest up to the hilt.

Mr Kyriacou’s two teenage sons dashed to the scene to find
their blood soaked father staggering down the hallway.

He was rushed to hospital but surgeons could not stem the
blood flowing from a seven inch wound and the driving instructor
died later that afternoon.

‘Few such cases can have been as needlessly wasteful of
human life as this,’ said counsel.

The court heard Mr Kyriacou had lit the barbecue in his
garden for a family meal on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

He and his wife were in the garden as the smoke from the
grill wafted into Norman’s overlooking flat.

Norman shouted ‘a torrent of abuse’ from his balcony and
allegedly warned Mr Kyriacou: ‘If you don’t put it out I’ll put
it out for you.

‘
‘No doubt Mr Kyriacou and his wife responded in kind,’ said
counsel.

Moments later Norman said to his wife: ‘Get me a bucket of
f***ing water.

‘
‘It was thrown over the Kyriacous’ and the barbecue by
Norman – followed by another.

‘As he threw down the second bucket he threw down a
challenge as well.

‘
Norman was said to have shouted: ‘What are you going to do
about it? Who’s going to stop me?’
Mr Kyriacou had ‘had enough’ and ran across the gardens to
the ground floor door to Norman’s flat.

His wife called the police while the ‘unarmed’ father of
three ran up the stairs.

Mr Kyriacou was ‘fired up and very angry’ and when no one
answered the door he smashed it down.

In the following fight the pair lashed at each other with their
fists and a heavy stone doorstop, the court heard.

Witnesses who watched the struggle from their flat balcony
opposite later told police Norman was being urged on by his wife.

‘Two witnesses saw Norman take hold of a knife from
somewhere near the balcony door and stab Mr Kyriacou in the
chest,’ said Mr Calvert-Smith.

‘It looked like the knife had gone in right up to the
hilt.

It had.

‘
Mrs Kyriacou called her sons Mario and Michael from a
grassy area nearby.

‘They ran up to the flat to see their father staggering
out covered in blood.

‘
Seeking vengence, the distraught brothers armed
themselves with knives, but the police arrived before they could
act.

Blood was still flowing from a wound in Norman’s face when
the officers went into his flat.

Norman allegedly said: ‘He just came up, kicked the door
and hit me with the rock.

‘
When arrested he was said to have added: ‘All right, but
it’s self-defence.

‘
But at the police station the lorry driver could not
explain how Mr Kyriacou was stabbed, said counsel.

Norman denies murdering Mr Kyriacou at their flats at Longland
Court, Avondale Square, Old Kent Road, SE1, on June 7 last year.

The trial continues.

ENDS