A jobless man walked free from court today (MON) a

A jobless man walked free from court today (MON) after being cleared of killing his pal in a row over a badly-cooked meal.

Neville Weekes, 59, was said to have stabbed Hubert Bryan in the chest and back with a kitchen knife after being served undercooked pork and rice.

But he was found not guilty of murder after telling the jury that Mr Bryan, 63, was alive and well when he last saw him.

Inner London Crown Court had heard how Weekes visited Mr Bryan’s flat in South London for a drink and a chat on July 29 last year.

But a row erupted after Mr Bryan dished up a badly-cooked meal, and Weekes returned to his home nearby.

Police went to the flat on the Sinclair estate in Streatham Hill three days later, after Mr Hubert’s worried girlfriend said she hadn’t heard from him.

They found Mr Hubert’s body on the bathroom floor, surrounded by remnants of the half-eaten meal.

He had been stabbed in the chest and back.

Weekes – known to pals as ‘Jelly’ or ‘Jellybaby’ – was later arrested after allegedly confessing to a chemist: ‘I stuck a knife in him.

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But he was today cleared on a 10-1 majority verdict – one of the jurors had been excused – after he told the jury he did not kill Mr Bryan.

Weekes, from Trinidad, admitted there had been a scuffle, and said Mr Bryan had come at him with a knife.

He claimed the man had cut him on the neck, but claimed he did not retaliate, and just wrestled the knife from his friend’s hand.

Weekes said Jamaica-born Mr Hubert was alive and well when he left him standing in the hallway, and suggested other people must have later entered the flat and killed his friend.

The court heard that Weekes and Mr Hubert had a ‘volatile’ friendship, and that they often argued.

Weekes, of Eagle House, Sinclair Estate, Streatham Hill, had told police his pal was ‘cantankerous, volatile, and a schizo’.

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