A MAN accused of Denis Witney’s murder has claimed he can’t remember much of the night when it happened.

Giving evidence in Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Daniel McCollin told the jury he had large blanks in his memory from both before and after the 37-year-old homeless man was fatally assaulted.

On November 9 last year Mr Witney was subjected to an attack inside a house in St Clement’s, Oxford, which the prosecution alleges was revenge for an assault on McCollin’s girlfriend, Joanne Moriarty.

McCollin denies having anything to do with his death and claims on the evening he arrived at the house drunk, stumbled across the front room narrowly missing the injured Mr Witney, and quickly went upstairs. He blamed the memory loss on being badly beaten up earlier this year.

“I haven’t just made this up,” he said. “I have had memory problems for some time.” But this explanation was dismissed by prosecutor Neil Moore, who said the memory loss was too convenient. He said: “You are not telling the truth, are you Mr McCollin? “Your loss of memory happens when it suits you. When you have to think of a reason why Mr Witney’s blood is on your shoes you can remember zig zagging across the room.”

Wayne Cattell, 37, of Mortimer Road, Rose Hill, McCollin, 30, of Blay Close, Blackbird Leys, and Moriarty, 29, of Mortimer Road, Rose Hill, all deny murder. The case continues.