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'I felt dizzy and like I had tunnel vision': Man tells jury of moment he was stabbed outside Dudley pub

A man has told a jury of the moment he was stabbed outside a pub in Dudley.

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Christopher Perkins was seriously injured in the attack outside The Earl of Dudley Arms in Wellington Road in the early hours of May 11 last year as violence flared between two groups of drinkers.

Darren Edwards, of Kilburn Place, Netherton, denies attempted murder and a second charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Giving evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mr Perkins, aged 23, said he did not realise he had been stabbed until a punter told him to look down at himself, and initially thought blood on his clothes was alcohol someone had thrown at him.

It was only when he lifted his shirt that he saw that blood was pouring from his torso.

Seconds earlier Mr Perkins had been involved in a fight with the accused, Edwards, 36, who is also known as Dredd.

Mr Perkins said the pair exchanged 10 to 12 blows and it is at this point Edwards is alleged to have stabbed him.

No weapon was ever found.

Mr Perkins, who had gone to the pub for the first time that night with friends Shane Logan and Grant Morgan, said: "I can't remember making contact with the first few (punches) but I made connection with the last one thrown. He stumbled backwards, I had hit him in the face.

"Then a guy standing by the fence told me to me to look down at myself. As I looked down there was quite a lot of fluid on my top. I asked the guy if he had thrown a drink on me. I lifted my top and realised the fluid I saw originally was blood.

"As I looked up Dredd was making his way off the car park. Straight away I put my hands around my torso and tried to make my way around the other side of the car park where Grant's car was.

"As soon as I noticed the blood I felt dizzy and like I had tunnel vision.

"I sat on a bench and a girl asked me if I was alright. I said I had been stabbed."

Mr Perkins was carried to a nearby car and driven to hospital.

He had suffered a collapsed lung, a cut to his other lung and the sack surrounding his heart was cut. He underwent emergency surgery and spent five days in hospital.

Mr Perkins told the court how he and his friends had earlier argued with three Asian men and that it was after one of these men struck a woman in the face that he stepped in.

Mr Perkins said one of the men was walking towards Mr Morgan so he pushed him, causing him to fall over the tow bar of a food van that was outside the pub.

He then said Edwards came towards him and threw a punch at him.

The jury had earlier been shown CCTV footage leading up to the stabbing.

Edwards was said to have been shown on the footage wearing a baseball cap and dark clothing.

When asked by prosecutor Mrs Grace Hale whether Edwards was wearing a cap when they were trading blows he said he could not recall.

Mrs Hale told the jury at the opening of the trial on Tuesday that they needed to decide whether it was Edwards who did the stabbing and if he intended to kill Mr Perkins.

The trial continues.

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