A builder accused of chasing a flasher on to a liv

A builder accused of chasing a flasher on to a live railway line told a jury he feared the man had performed a sex act in front of his 10-year-old daughter.

Michael Barrett, 42, said he saw father-of-one Jason Williams stark naked in the garden and immediately ran after him.

He claimed he only punched the 30-year-old in self-defence and tried to help him when he fell onto the electric rail near East Dulwich station.

Barrett said: ‘I was just angry.

I could have hit him more than once.

He was fighting me.

‘

He was arrested after giving evidence at the inquest into Mr William’s death.

The victim sold the Big Issue in London’s West End and lived in Dulwich, southeast London, with his partner and young son.

At the Old Bailey today, Barrett said the family had been scared by an intruder in their garden a week earlier.

He claimed he chased the man through the streets and let the police know but they did not investigate.

On July 8 last year he had been on the phone to his friend when he saw Mr Williams.

He added: ‘I just saw this geezer naked with his penis in his hand.

The door was open.

‘When I got on the phone she was out there.

I didn’t know she had come in.

‘How many times do you see that? I carried on the conversation as normal.

It was surreal.

I was shocked.

‘My reaction was to get up and just run.

I was screaming.

You are not thinking logically.

It was instinctive.

‘There’s all these people appearing in my garden.

I wanted to do something.

I didn’t know what to do.

‘

Barrett vaulted over the fence and lost the naked man in the trees but discovered his clothes in a clearing, the jury heard.

He added: ‘He came from the left, we just got involved.

I hit him, he’s hit me.

He had his trousers on.

‘I hadn’t heard a peep from him but as I came though he came at me.

I got to defend myself, haven’t I?’

Barrett claimed he saw the man fall on to the line and tried to get help.

At 8.

50pm he called the police, telling the operator: ‘There might be a dead body on the railway line.

‘

Police arrived to find Barrett with the dead man who was wearing tracksuit bottoms and socks.

Barrett, of [33] Abbotswood Road, East Dulwich, denies manslaughter.

The trial continues.

ends