Boyfriend of EastEnders actress on trial for murder

The drug-using boyfriend of an EastEnders actress carried out a revenge killing then went to her house covered in blood, a court heard today.

Tony McCann stabbed 33-year-old Luke Hodge once in the back after breaking into his home, then went to see his girlfriend, Nicola Cowper, a jury was told.

Miss Cowper saw he was wearing bloodstained clothes and that he was "extremely anxious" but adopted an "I don't want to know" approach, the Old Bailey heard.

The soap actress, who was staying with her parents, drove him to a friend's house in her father's car and arrived back at home moments before police who were looking for him, said Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting.

Miss Cowper, 40, who plays Cindy Beale's sister Gina Williams, twice took telephone calls from him while they were there but initially did not tell officers, Mr Dennis told the court.

But she did tell McCann that police were there and he realised it was "only a matter of time" before he was arrested, the court heard.

He was tracked down three hours later, initially giving police a false name, then declining to answer questions about the killing, Mr Dennis said.

McCann, 48, of Station Road, Twickenham, south west London, denies murdering Mr Hodge on July 27 2006.

The defendant, also known as "squeak" or "squeaky" is alleged to have forced entry into the flat where the victim was staying just after 7am, wearing a ski mask, sunglasses and surgical gloves, and wielding a kitchen knife.

He made his way to the bedroom where Mr Hodge was sleeping, the court heard.

Mr Dennis said that when the victim tried to grab the knife from him, McCann was heard to say: "No, I am going to kill you."

A woman who was also staying at the address became involved, pulling the mask from McCann's head and exposing his face, and he ran off, leaving Mr Hodge fatally wounded, jurors were told.

Mr Hodge, who was also a drug user and knew his alleged killer, struggled from the bedroom and collapsed just outside the flat, Mr Dennis said.

He was pronounced dead in hospital, the knife having penetrated his left lung and severed a major artery.

McCann, who hours before had injected heroin at the home of a friend where he had stayed the night, was said to have been "upset" by Mr Hodge bullying his friends, and had even mentioned it to a policeman earlier the day before the murder.

He complained "that the bullying had gone on for too long and, rather ominously in the circumstances, something had to be done", Mr Dennis told jurors.

The prosecutor added: "The defendant did not seem to be abashed by his actions.

"He seemed to have been proud and boastful, telling one friend afterwards, 'That'll teach him to f*** about with me'.

"The defendant's attack upon Luke Hodge was undoubtedly a deliberate act of vengeance on his part."

Mr Dennis added: "His girlfriend Nicola Cowper adopted the 'I don't want to know what's happened' approach."

But he told her mother, who had opened the front door to him, that he had been in a fight and "it was bad".

"He asked his girlfriend Nicola for some money and then for her to drive him to Strawberry Hill which she did straight away, using her father's car.

"The girlfriend Nicola returned home just ahead of the police officers who had been dispatched to the address in the search for the defendant."

Meanwhile McCann made his way to his friend's house where he changed out of his bloody clothes, the court heard, later twice telephoning Miss Cowper.

"Initially she didn't let on to the police that the defendant was on the line," Mr Dennis said.

"However she did tell the defendant that the police were there and therefore he no doubt appreciated it was only a matter of time before he was arrested."