THE dying words of Danny Fox were described to a court this afternoon as a prosecution opened the retrial of the man accused of murdering him.

Leighton Holt, 21, denies murdering 29-year-old Danny with a butterfly knife in St Helens town centre on Friday, September 2, 2016.

During the opening statements at Liverpool Crown Court Guy Gozem, QC, prosecuting, stated some of the final words of the children’s care worker.

Mr Gozem told the court: “’Please, I do not want to die – I can’t breathe’. Those were among the last words spoken by Danny Fox to police officers as he went into cardiac arrest, lying in the back of an ambulance on North John Street in St Helens.

“He couldn’t breathe because the defendant – Leighton Holt’s - knife had entered his chest, penetrated his lung and cut his jugular vein.”

Mr Gozem added that Danny had previously worked as a doorman, but he was a carer by occupation, having worked for six months prior to his death for a company in Warrington.

He was enjoying a night out in St Helens with some of his friends when he encountered Holt, of Custley Hey, Stockbridge Village.

Holt, allege the prosecution, was in the habit of carrying a knife when he went out.

Mr Gozem added: “He carried something called a butterfly knife – you’ll be able to see it in due course - that was his weapon of choice. It’s plainly an offensive weapon.

“He told the police he needed it for ‘self-defence’ because of events in his past that left him fearful for his life. Put shortly, people were ‘out to get him’.

"Those past events had absolutely nothing to do with Daniel Fox, or anybody else who was on Westfield Street, St Helens that night."

Mr Gozem said that the stabbing unfolded at about 3am on Friday, September 2 as the bars on Westfield Street were emptying, and people were congregating with their friends outside.

Danny was with – among others - Peter Edwards and Andrew Parr.

Holt was with a girl called Kaitlin Douglas, say the prosecution.

Mr Gozem added: At some stage on Westfield Street, Leighton Holt decided that he wanted a cigarette – so he asked a girl, Joelle Maudsley for one.

“Bluntly, she refused. His response – whether he meant it to be taken seriously or not - was nasty and verbally aggressive.

“Whatever the precise words he used, different people could have taken what he said in different ways.”

The court was told Andrew Parr was informed about what Holt said and how he was behaving.

Mr Gozem added: “He walked over to Leighton Holt and simply asked him to ‘leave the girls alone'.

“Nobody could misinterpret Holt’s reaction to Andrew Parr saying to leave the girls alone – ‘I’ll f***ng slice you'."

The prosecution say the comments came from a man who knew he was carrying a knife and was making clear that he was ready to use it.

Parr is said to have slapped the defendant across the face and the defendant’s reaction was to pull his knife out.

Kaitlin Douglas, the girl with Holt, started to push Holt away from this confrontation, added Mr Gozem.

The prosecution suggest Holt was being “aggressive” and demonstrating a willingness and intention to fight.

Mr Gozem added: “As Kaitlin Douglas continued to try to push Holt away, and as Holt continued to shout threats and gesticulate, Andrew Parr, Daniel Fox and others who had seen how Holt had behaved and that he’d got a knife, started to follow them.

“Some of what happened next was on CCTV – some was out of sight of the cameras.

“What we do know is Leighton Holt and the Kaitlin Douglas ended up round the back of Bar 44 on the Sports Direct car park.

“It was on that car park that the defendant used the knife to inflict the fatal blow on Daniel Fox.

“The prosecution case is that this was not lawful – and was not self-defence – it was an angry reaction we say, by an angry man who perhaps felt he’d been humiliated by being publicly slapped, and wanted to lash out at and hurt somebody.”

The case continues