A tiny cut from the tip of a kitchen knife led to a man’s death following a row between two pals, a court has heard. James O’Keefe, 47, did not want medical help and “brushed off” the 1.5cm deep wound after the knife nicked his right thigh, the Old Bailey was told.
Unbeknown to him, it had sliced a varicose vein, causing "severe, prolonged and unchecked bleeding", from which he died, jurors heard.
Mr O'Keefe's friend George Nolan, 55, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of manslaughter. Prosecutor Julian Evans said the pair had got into an argument while drinking at the flat of another friend, Jan Farnham, in Crouch End, north London, on December 9 last year.