A drunken argument over excessive noise in the early hours of Boxing Day ended in a “scene of sheer horror” when a man stabbed his next door neighbour to death at least six times with a kitchen knife, a court heard.

Chris Fruen, 52, is alleged to have struck a 'He-Man' pose with the knife raised above his head after he murdered Patrick Mulroe outside their homes in Luxfield Road, Mottingham.

The jury at Inner London Crown Court heard that despite the efforts of paramedics, who performed emergency surgery on Mr Mulroe outside his home, the 64-year-old bled to death after suffering multiple stab wounds.

Opening the trial for the prosecution, Simon Denison QC, described both the victim and the defendant as “decent, hard-working family men”, adding: “which makes what happened in the early hours of Boxing Day last year all the more extraordinary”.

He told the court: “In the six years that they had lived there the Fruens had complained on three occasions to the council about excessive noise, mostly music being played too loud at the Mulroes' home.”

The most recent complaint had been made in October last year, just two months before Mr Mulroe was killed, the court heard.

Other than those complaints, Mr Denison said the neighbours had lived “side by side without any problems”, adding “hardly, you would think the background that would lead to murder”.

He said: “But that is what happened in the early hours of Boxing Day morning when a drunken argument about noise between Tina Mulroe and Sandra Fruen just outside their houses caused the two men, Patrick Mulroe and the defendant Chris Fruen, to come outside and to confront each other.”

Mr Denison said the Fruens were seeing off a family member into an Uber cab at about 1.45am, when Mrs Mulroe did something “that no doubt she will always regret”.

Leaning out of the window, Mrs Mulroe allegedly called down to her neighbours “it’s alright when you want to make some noise”, which Mr Denison said was met with abuse from Mrs Fruen who called her "a c***".

The court heard the two women walked out of their homes and the argument continued outside over the hedge which separated their homes, when Mr Mulroe walked down their drive and over to the Fruens’ house.

Mr Denison told the court: “He [Fruen] came out of his house and went straight down his drive to the pavement and towards Mr Mulroe and he had a knife in his hand that no-one saw until it was too late.

“The two men came together on the pavement outside their houses. The defendant was seen repeatedly punching into Patrick Mulroe’s left side.

“The defendant then walked back up to his drive to his front porch where he turned and raised up his hand at shoulder level in what Katie Barrett [Mr Mulroe’s step-daughter] described as a He-Man pose.”

At this point, it is alleged that the two women realised Mr Mulroe had been stabbed.

Whilst bleeding heavily through his checked shirt, Mr Mulroe was helped inside by his wife as their children tried to get help, the court heard.

Mr Denison said at 2.09am Lauren Wells, the girlfriend of Mr Mulroe’s son Fred, dialled 999 before Ms Barrett took over the call giving directions from the operator in a bid to stem the bleeding.

“As you expect, it was a scene of sheer horror,” he said.

When the paramedics arrived they treated Mr Mulroe inside the house, before attempting to take him to hospital.

But before they could leave, they were forced to take him out of the ambulance to perform emergency surgery on the pavement outside his home which is where he was pronounced dead.

Giving evidence behind a screen, an emotional Ms Barrett described the moment she realised Mr Mulroe, who she called dad, had been stabbed.

She told the court: “I said ‘oh my god he’s got a knife’, I didn’t know my dad had been stabbed.

“I turned round and I could see there was blood on my dad’s shirt. I said ‘oh my god he’s stabbed you’.”

The court heard that after Fruen was arrested and taken to Plumstead police station, he made a statement to police.

He allegedly told police that he was about to start cutting up the turkey when he heard the altercation and went outside to see what was going on, still with the knife in his hand.

Fruen’s statement said: “I did not have any intention to stab Mr Mulroe and was not aware he sustained any injuries. It all happened so fast.”

The prosecution said there was evidence Fruen had taken cocaine on the night of the killing, saying the mix of drugs and alcohol “may go some way to explaining the defendant’s extraordinary behaviour in taking a knife out to confront Mr Mulroe, stabbing him multiple times in the body and then standing in that He-Man pose Katie Barrett saw”.

Fruen, of Luxfield Road, Mottingham, denies one count of murder.

The trial continues.