‘Murder victim’ Keith Green was described by his friend as the ‘kindest person you could imagine’.

Paul Knowles said of the tragic 40-year-old: “He would do anything for anybody.

“I’ve known Keith for about 20 years.

“Ever since then we’ve been like brothers. We were always together and saw each other almost every day.”

Prosecutors say Mr Green was stabbed to death in the garden of that property – 42 Howard Road – by his partner Louise Grieve’s younger lover, Mark Meadows, 25, and his 20-year-old half-brother Travis Gorton.

In his statement, read to jurors at Oxford Crown Court by junior prosecuting counsel Matthew Walsh, Mr Knowles said that Mr Green had lived with him for ‘around a year’ after being kicked out of the house by Grieve.

Louise Grieve had come to the flat around Christmas last year – shouting up at the window and asking Keith to ‘please come back, can we make a go of it?’ he claimed.

When he returned to the family home in Howard Road, Mr Green was ‘happy as Larry’, the friend said.

But he had not been himself in the ‘last couple of weeks’ leading up to his death on February 13.

Mr Knowles said: “Keith has been quiet and distant and not his normal self. He knew there was something going on with Mark and Louise.

“He had told me about Mark and that Lou was sleeping around with him and that he’d been around the house.”

The friend said he ‘did not know’ Mark Meadows but added: “I think he’s an idiot because he’s been trying to get with Louise when Keith thought the world of her.”

On February 12, the day before his death, Mr Green was said to have told his friend that he was ‘planning to propose to Louise on Valentine’s Day’.

Shortly after midnight on February 14, Mr Knowles said he received a Facebook message from Callum Johnson – Louise Grieve’s son and one of five accused of Mr Green’s murder – that read: “Paul, he’s gone.”

At around 12.30am, he spoke to Grieve’s daughter, Rhiannon, who told him that Mr Green had been stabbed.

When he went to the house, he was stopped at the police cordon. The officer refused him entry, despite Mr Knowles saying that Mr Green was ‘like a brother to me’.

On February 15, he was said to have received a call from Grieve, informing him that Keith had been stabbed ‘eight times’. She asked to visit him but, at the time the statement was made on February 16, had not visited.

Five defendants, including a youth who cannot be identified for legal reasons, deny murder. The trial continues.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward