A FORMER doorman was “as cool as ice” when he confronted the man he is alleged to have killed by slashing his throat, the jury in the York murder trial heard.

They were also told Brian Cox, 29, was guilty of cowardice, telling lies and doing stupid things, but he was not a murderer.

Cox, no fixed address, denies murdering Mark Webb, 40. Also in the dock at Leeds Crown Court are his girlfriend and wife to Mr Webb, Susan Webb, 30, of Middleton Avenue and Cox’s other girlfriend Dawn Coates, 49, of Chapel Terrace, Acomb, who both deny perverting the course of justice.

Richard Mansell, giving the prosecution closing speech, alleged Cox comforted Susan Webb and took a Stanley knife from a kitchen drawer before going out to stop Mr Webb entering Kerry Munton’s home in Stuart Road on March 4 Mr Mansell said: “On the evidence, he was as cool as ice, drawing on his experience on the doors.”

The two men had a struggle witnessed by Ms Munton and shortly afterwards, Mr Webb, a father-of-five of Cornlands Road, died from a 19cm throat wound.

Mr Mansell said: “You can be quite sure this happened as a result of a deliberate slash and not as an accident. Why else would he (Cox) have a Stanley knife in his hand when he went to confront Mr Webb, given what had gone on in the hour before, other than to use it as a weapon of offence?”

He dismissed Cox’s account of how the knife had accidentally cut Mr Webb four times on the grounds the knife’s blade would have had to “defy gravity”.

“This was controlled violence,” said Mr Mansell. “There was no loss of control here.”

Cox’s barrister Rodney Jameson said Cox had been behaving “normally” until Susan Webb turned the situation into “catastrophe” by shouting from the house’s back door for Mr Webb to go away. Mr Webb had then tried to get into the house and the struggle began. Cox claims he did not realise the knife was in his hand.

Cox had been stupid in running away immediately after the incident and in other matters including lying to police. He also had two girlfriends “if not simultaneously then overlapping”.

“He is a very odd fellow in many ways,” Mr Jameson said.

“He has not covered himself in glory in quite of a lot of things he has done, but he is not a murderer. When it comes to the issue of was this deliberate, it really does come down to Kerry Munton.”

Mr Jameson alleged she had lied so much to police and neighbours she was guilty of perverting justice and had been under pressure from police to change her original story.

After she changed from being a murder conspiracy suspect to a prosecution witness, she had continued to lie to protect herself and her partner Paul Quinn, he claimed.

Mr Quinn has not given evidence, but according to Cox, put the knife in a bin outside a McColls’ store. Police have never found it.

The trial continues.