THE jury in the trial of a drug addict accused of stabbing a man to death as he slept has retired to consider its verdicts.

Ben Harvey, of Ridges View, Little London, denies murdering William Rudiak, 26, at a house in Turin Court, Andover, on June 11 last year.

He has also pleaded not guilty to biting Mr Rudiak’s girlfriend, Alexandra Taylor, on the cheek causing her actual bodily harm during the same alleged incident.

Mr Harvey faces a further charge of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence, regarding an attempted molesting of a teenage girl in a village near Andover on the same night. The 22-year-old denies the attack.

A trial at Winchester Crown Court heard that Mr Harvey had taken cocaine, cannabis and drunk alcohol on the night of the incidents, but he claims that the cocaine did not give him the usual “euphoric feeling”.

The former Test Valley School pupil has accepted responsibility for the offences but has claimed that he has no memories of carrying out the incidents apart from minor snapshots.

The jury retired to consider their verdicts shortly after 11.30am today (January 30) and are expected to continue their deliberations into the afternoon.