THE man accused of murdering a Bournemouth teenager sobbed in the dock as he described seeing her body on the ground.

Alvin Jay Santos, of Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, told jurors at Winchester Crown Court that he suffered a blackout after 16-year-old Linda Lietaviete told him she was behind an assault on him in 2011.

The defendant sustained serious head injuries in the attack, which he claims causes him to forget certain incidents, particularly when angry.

He admits stabbing Linda Lietaviete at Horseshoe Common, Bournemouth, on the night of December 12 last year, but denies a single count of murder.

Giving evidence yesterday, Santos, 26, said he had been drinking heavily on the night of Miss Lietaviete’s death, and had taken what he believed to be amphetamines earlier that day.

Prosecuting, Kerry Maylin said he had been carrying a knife down his trousers.

“How did Linda bring up the assault in 2011?” she asked.

Santos replied: “I don’t know – it just came up randomly.”

Ms Maylin said: “What was your reaction to her saying she had set you up for an assault?”

Santos said: “I didn’t say anything and then the last time I remember she was on the floor.”

He told the court he remembered “getting angry”. When asked how angry, he replied: “To the top.”

Miss Lietaviete’s partially clothed body was discovered buried under a pile of leaves in the early hours of December 13 2013.

She had been stabbed seven times.

Santos yesterday said he moved her body twice, and attempted to throw her clothes and mobile phone into the pond before eventually disposing of them in a bin near his home.

When asked why he had failed to call the emergency services to get help, Santos said he was “frightened and terrified”, adding: “It was my bad idea. I did not ring 999.”

The defendant told his sister, with whom he lived, about the stabbing later that night. He said he confessed to her because he felt such “regret”.

“My conscience, it thought I should call 999,” he said.

Ms Maylin said: “You took the knife out of the waistband of your trousers. You stabbed Linda seven times. You wanted to kill her, didn’t you?”

Santos replied: “No – I did not intend to cause any harm to her.”

The trial continues.