A man accused of murdering his dad claimed he ‘lost his head’ after his father grabbed him by the throat.
Neil Badrock accepted he headbutted, punched and kicked Neil Farrington, saying he did so because he was “angry”.
But he insisted: “I didn’t want it to get to the level it got to.”
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Mr Farrington was taken to hospital after an incident involving his son in Kirkby in May of last year.
Weeks later, he died as a result of his injuries.
Prosecutors say the 51-year-old was the victim of a "ferocious, brutal and totally unforgiving" attack.
Badrock has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder and the 28-year-old today told jurors his actions followed him being grabbed by the throat and pinned to a wall by his dad.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Badrock had gone out drinking following the conclusion of 12 consecutive days in work.
His first of two days off was May 17 - the day pubs reopened from last year’s lockdown.
Questioned by his barrister, Benjamin Myers, QC, Badrock explained: “I was excited because it was the first time I had been off work… I was going out that day, to put it bluntly, to get t****ed.”
He explained this meant to get “very, very drunk”.
Badrock, a maintenance worker at a gym, went out in Kirkby and spent time in the Carters Arms, the Railway and then the Mainbrace.
As he was off work the following day and, with the pubs having reopened, he said: “I wanted to embrace the day off.”
At one point, in the Mainbrace, he ordered two pints of Strongbow, two Jager bombs, two Southern Comfort with lemonades as well as sambuca, all at the same time.
The court has heard that, that evening, Badrock appeared to have “fallen out” with a man playing snooker in the pub and began texting his dad.
In one message, Badrock said "I will bite his f***ing windpipe out if I have to", before adding in another: "I will smash his head in if I have to."
Asked how his dad responded, Badrock said: “He was advising me to go home but I didn’t want to go home, I was enjoying myself.”
Badrock agreed when Mr Myers suggested things would be different had his client taken the advice of his dad.
He said he felt “surprised” when Mr Farrington then arrived at the pub, where the pair stayed until Badrock was asked to leave by a barmaid just after 11pm.
He recalled: “I realised I had had a ridiculous amount to drink and I just wanted to go home and sleep it off.”
As he walked away from the pub he heard his dad calling his name and waited for him, meeting him close to the junction of Whitefield Drive and Kirkby Row.
Badrock said his dad appeared “p****d off” and witnesses have claimed hearing the older of the men saying he had “put up with this for 20 years” and that “he had enough of you”.
The defendant said he did not recall his dad making those comments, but that: “I just remember him coming towards me and grabbing me by the throat… he came towards me and he grabbed me by the throat and he had me pinned against the wall.”
He said the action left him struggling to breathe, adding: “I just remember, as he let go of me, he was walking away and I turned him around to face me and say ‘why have you just grabbed me by the throat?’ but instead of saying it to him I just butted him.”
Badrock said this knocked his dad to the ground, which surprised him.
Mr Myers asked him why he headbutted Mr Farrington when he said he intended to speak to him.
Badrock, who the court heard has never been in trouble with the police, responded: “I was just p****d off… the fact that I had drunk that amount of drink obviously didn’t help.”
After the headbutt, Badrock described having an experience similar to a “blackout”, telling the jury: “I just didn’t realise what I was doing.”
He said he still had no explanation for punching and kicking his dad, adding: “I sit there every night before I go to sleep and I can’t understand why it led to what it led to that night.”
The jury was shown images of Badrock, taken after his arrest, that showed marks on his neck. Mr Myers also took the jury through CCTV from the Mainbrace in which his neck was visible.
Badrock, of Kenbury Close, Kirkby, suggested no marks were visible on his neck in the CCTV because “they got there because my dad had me by the throat”.
He told the court he had no intention to kill or seriously harm his dad that night and, when asked by Mr Myers how he now felt, he said: “I feel sick… I have now lost a dad and it is devastating. It is devastating what I done. I can’t believe I have done that to my own dad.”
He said that “even though” his dad had grabbed him by the throat, the way he then responded “was wrong”.
Under cross-examination by Guy Gozem, QC, prosecuting, Badrock agreed Mr Farrington had turned up at the Mainbrace that night because “he plainly loved you”, and also that he had previously expressed concern about his son’s drinking.
Badrock accepted he headbutted his dad out of “anger” and said: “After the headbutt, when he went to the floor, I just remember kicking him and punching him because I was raging at the time and I didn’t know he was unconscious from the headbutt… I just, like a switch had gone off in my head, I had lost control.”
He said he was in fear of his dad getting up after the headbutt, leading Mr Gozem to ask why he did not kneel down and check his condition.
Badrock responded: “Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it and if I could go back and change what I done I would in a heartbeat… I’m absolutely devastated by what happened.”
He insisted he had no intention to kill his dad and, while Badrock accepted he had wanted to hurt his father, he added: “I didn’t want it to get to the level it got to.”
Proceeding
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