A 35-YEAR-OLD accused of murdering an alcoholic could not have been at the scene because he "is a black man".

Marvin Service denies killing Ted Shaxted who died on December 16 in 2007 - two weeks after an assault in his bathroom in Wallis Park, Northfleet.

Defending Service, of Brandon Street, Gravesend, Mr Richard Carey-Hughes QC argued the victim’s account of the attack before he died ruled out Service.

The court heard Mr Shaxted described his attackers to police as “three white men.”

Accounting for Service’s palm print found in the bathroom after the attack, Mr Carey-Hughes said he left it when visiting the property later that evening.

Kelvin Horlock, aged 32, from Strood; Bill Saunders, aged 30, of Denton Caravan Park, Gravesend, and 38-year-old Trevor Lees of London Road, Northfleet, are also charged with murder.

Appealing to the jury, Mr Carey-Hughes QC argued the victim would have acknowledged Service’s colour in his description.

He said: “He gave an account that excludes Marvin Service from being one of his attackers.

“Marvin Service is a black man - he is almost a stereotype of an athletic, young, Afro-Caribbean man, but above all, black.

“How long did it take you to notice that?

“White people are preconditioned to register that fact immediately.

“For many of us, and almost certainly for Ted Shaxted, it is that difference that we register straight away.

“There cannot be a clever answer. Mr Service’s blackness in the context of this town, and this courtroom, jumps out at you - it’s unmissable.

“How could Ted Shaxted, who was willing to give a picture perfect description, manage to say he was attacked by three white men if one of them was Marvin Service?

”He rules out the possibility of him.”

The trial continues.