Man 'left home with suicide note'

Matthew Pyke was found stabbed 86 times in his flat

A man flew from his home in Germany with a knife and a suicide note to leave with his victim, a court heard.

Nottingham Crown Court has been told Matthew Pyke was stabbed 86 times by David Heiss in September after becoming infatuated with his girlfriend.

The court also heard David Heiss had a pair of gardening gloves to conceal his fingerprints.

Mr Heiss, 21, from Limburg, denies murder and claims he stabbed Mr Pyke, 20, in self defence.

Suicide note

The court was told Mr Heiss bought a knife in Frankfurt before flying over.

Shaun Smith QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Heiss had composed a suicide note on his computer back home supposedly from Mr Pyke.

Mr Smith said the defendant had intended to kill Mr Pyke and make it look like suicide but it went wrong because he had not expected him to fight back so vigorously.

Mr Heiss insists he only meant to confront Mr Pyke, not to kill him.

The court heard earlier that Mr Pyke, originally from Stowmarket, in Suffolk, suffered a "savage and sustained" attack at the flat he shared with his girlfriend Joanna Witton, 21, in North Sherwood Street on 19 September.

Miss Witton, from Selby, North Yorkshire, met Mr Heiss on a chat forum of the war games website she had set up with Mr Pyke.

The court was told he spent six months pestering her with emails and messages before the alleged murder.

The trial continues.