A Walton man stabbed to death with a bread knife the stepfather he “classed as a dad”, a jury at the Old Bailey heard this week.

Rachid Riahi, 29, stands accused of murdering Kevin Francis, 49, who was found with a single stab wound to the chest at their family home in Hurtwood Road, Walton, on the evening of October 6 last year.

On March 23 the defendant’s mother, Julia Francis, emotionally recalled the moment she found her husband dying on the kitchen floor with Mr Riahi cradling him.

She told the court she had been visiting a neighbour who claimed he could hear shouting coming from her house.

She went back to her own house, the court heard, and came upon the gruesome scene in her own kitchen.

She said her husband was in the arms of her son, who was saying over Mr Francis’ body, “Kevin, Kevin, don’t do this to me”.

Mrs Francis told the court she saw blood on her husband’s shirt, but no weapon, and ran out of the house again in hysterics, back to her neighbour’s house.

The court was also told by Mrs Francis that earlier in the evening there had been an argument between Mr Francis and his stepson, which resulted in Mr Riahi dragging his stepfather from his bedroom and on to the landing, throwing kicks and punches.

She told the court the argument started after her husband punched her in the chest and she called for help.

She claimed the relationship between her husband and Mr Riahi had up to that point always been good.

She told the court: “[Mr Riahi] classed him as a dad.”

Mr Riahi’s defence barrister, Sol Raana Sheikh, suggested to the jury it was Mrs Francis who had killed her husband.

He said: “What I am suggesting, Mrs Francis, is it was you who plunged the knife into him.

“This had been building over years and years and years. You’d had enough. And he’d just gone that little bit too far, hadn’t he?”

Mrs Francis told the court her relationship with her husband had been turbulent and she had at times wanted a divorce, but she denied killing him.

She said: “I didn’t even see a knife.”

The previous day, the jury at the Old Bailey was told that neighbours who had heard Mrs Francis screaming went inside the house and also saw Mr Francis in the defendant’s arms, lying in a pool of blood.

The court was also told by prosecutor Wayne Cleaver that Mr Riahi had drunk several cans of cider that evening and had attacked Mr Francis in a fit of rage.

Pictures of a bread knife the prosecution claimed was used by Mr Riahi to stab his stepfather were shown to the jury.

Mr Riahi denies murder. The trial continues.