A jury has been told of a dying mum's final words to her son after he stabbed her in the heart.
Jamie Dempsey accidentally knifed his mother Karen in the chest outside the Brambles pub in Kirkby while fighting with another man. He then hugged the 55-year-old before fleeing the scene, leaving her bleeding to death.
The 32-year-old is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of murder. Jurors were today read transcripts of Dempsey's interviews with police following his arrest.
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He told detectives that Brian Flynn - who was also stabbed during the incident - had attacked him shortly before the Liverpool FC v Manchester United game was due to be shown on the television, saying: "I seen Brian in there, I owe him from a drug debt from about a year ago. He's knocked me out previously outside another pub in Kirkby.
"Just before the game started, he went into the toilet. He's came back out, he's glassed me."
After leaving via the back door, Dempsey claimed to have found a knife on the floor before a second confrontation with Mr Flynn. He stated: "Brian was shouting 'get here'.
"I picked the knife up. I shouted 'get away, I've got a knife'.
"He came at me and I ended up swinging the knife. I've obviously ended up hitting my mum as well."
Having dumped the weapon in a bin near to the elephant statue on Newtown Gardens, Dempsey said he then bought four cans of Fosters at Quarry Green Convenience Store on Old Rough Lane which he drank in St Chad's Gardens. He said: "I was just in a mad, crazy moment and I ran away.
"I hugged my mum and said 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stab you. She said 'it's ok, just go'.
"It weren't my blade, I didn't bring it. It was just in the back of the Brambles. When he started to come over to me, I picked it up just to scare him away. I said 'get away, I've got a knife' and he still came at me."
Dempsey also went to his aunt's house nearby and asked his cousin to burn the clothes he was wearing. The defendant said of this: "Obviously I was just going crazy weren't I?
"I didn't think nothing would happen to my mum. I was just trying to cover up what I done to Brian. I knew she'd been stabbed, but she was stood there talking to me. I thought it was nothing.
"She said 'it's alright, get off'. The last words she ever said to me.
"I'm sure he got on top of me first and that's when I swung the knife. I don't even remember hitting my mum, I don't ever remember my mum splitting it up.
"I told him to f*** off, 'I've got a knife, go away'. He was like 'you're getting it', that was it. I just went a bit blank when I got hit on the head, when I got glassed and that. I just wanted him to go away.
"I didn't want to hurt him, I didn't want to hurt anyone. He's done me in before and I wanted him to go away from me and leave me alone. He's saying 'I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill your ma'. I didn't say f*** all."
Returning to the final time he saw his mum alive, Dempsey reported she had told him "Jamie look, you've stabbed me". He added: "I went 'oh my god'.
"I said 'mum, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I never meant it'.
"She said 'I know you never meant it, get off. See you later'.
"I'm a fool. I shouldn't have done none of it mate, walked away.
"They arrested me for murder. I thought I'd killed him, I didn't even think about my mum."
A statement made by his auntie Lynn Dempsey was earlier read out to the court. In it, she described how she was in her bedroom in her pyjamas watching television when she heard banging at the front door then found her nephew "stood there covered in blood all over his face, like he had been in a fight".
His "pupils looked quite big, like he might be high on something". As he entered and went into the bathroom and began stripping out of his clothing, an "erratic" Dempsey told her: "Don't ask, but I've just stabbed someone and I think I've stabbed me ma."
Peter Glenser KC, prosecuting, told the court on Monday that the mum and son had been in the pub on the evening of August 22 2022 - as was Mr Flynn. Dempsey, of Brechin Road, owed him a £2,000 cocaine debt and "there had been unpleasantness between them nearby before".
Shortly after 8pm Mr Flynn hurled a glass at him, hitting him on the back of the head, before "following this up" with punches. He then picked up a second glass and again chucked it at Dempsey, who left via the back door.
Mr Flynn meanwhile was escorted out of the front exit onto Cherryfield Drive, where a second confrontation erupted. There, Dempsey stabbed Mr Flynn at least twice before a third man and Ms Dempsey attempted to intervene.
The knife "made contact" with her chest at this point, leaving her with blood pouring down her dress. The fighting then ceased, at which point Dempsey hugged his mum and left the area.
She collapsed moments later, the knife having pierced her heart and liver. Ms Dempsey was rushed to Aintree Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 9.45pm.
A "heavily bloodstained" Mr Flynn was located by police nearby. He too was taken to hospital after suffering serious injuries, having suffered a stab wound to the left armpit.
Dempsey denies murder. The trial continues.
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