A DOORMAN was stabbed repeatedly in the head and neck during a frenzied knife attack at a bedsit in Yeovil, a murder trial has heard.

Louis Bednall suffered multiple wounds in the alleged attack by Matthew Sheridan who was visiting a friend in a flat above the murder scene.

The two men had argued in a communal hallway a few minutes before the incident and Sheridan is alleged to have gone to the bedsit with a knife.

Three other people in the bedsit said they saw Sheridan carry out the attack which left blood spattered on the walls and ceiling.

Sheridan, known as Manic, was staying with his friend Derrick Michael at the upstairs flat and they both left the building briefly before returning and locking themselves in Mr Michael’s room.

CCTV inside the building at Hendford Hill, Yeovil, showed Sheridan going into the other bedsit uninjured and coming out bloodstained and with a cut on his hand.

The jury at Exeter Crown Court have been told that he left blood on a wall after leaving Mr Bednall injured in Flat 4.

Father-of-five Mr Bednall, aged 40, is a doorman from South Devon who has worked in security at Torbay Hospital in the past.

He was visiting the flat in Hendford Hill, Yeovil, with a female friend on the night of December 11, 2020 and planned to stay with Simon Bishop at flat 4.

They were joined by Mr Bishop’s girlfriend and all went well until the four left to buy pot noodles from a Tesco shop just before midnight.

The group met Sheridan on their return and there was some interaction between him and Bednall before they both went to their friends’ rooms.

Sheridan, 29, of South Petherton, denies murder. He says someone else carried out the attack.

Anna Vigars, QC, prosecuting, said Sheridan went into Mr Bishop’s room while the four people were out and took a bottle of vodka which was visible in his pocket when he went upstairs.

She said the killing happened shortly after midnight when Sheridan went downstairs from Flat 7 into Flat 4.

Miss Vigars said: “He was seen on CCTV reaching for something from his back pocket and seemingly pulling something out before he entered Flat 4.

“What happened next was seen by the other three people inside. They saw a brief dispute between Mr Bednall and Sheridan which exploded into a violent and aggressive assault.

“Sheridan viciously stabbed Mr Bednall in the head, neck and shoulders and blood spattered everywhere. It hit the ceiling and he ended up with multiple stab wounds caused by Sheridan.

“Mr Michael was just behind him, possibly trying to stop him. He was not involved in the stabbing. Sheridan turned to go downstairs and left a mark on the wall of the stairs in blood.

“Footage from the stairs shows his clothes covered in blood. He stabbed Mr Bednall to death and was seen by three witnesses. The stabbing was frantic and intense.”

Miss Vigars said Sheridan cut his own hand in the attack because there was so much blood that it slipped on the handle of the knife onto the blade.

He later claimed to have cut it on a glass but a Snapchat video which he recorded just before his arrest showed the only two glasses in Room 7 intact, although one had been smashed by the time police got in.

The jury spent the rest of the afternoon watching a compilation of CCTV clips which police recovered from the flat. One showed him with what looked like a knife in his hand as he left Flat 4.