JURORS heard today how a man who denies murdering two fellow squatters said he would "get his own back" on them just days before they were killed in a house fire.

James Cox, 63, of no fixed abode, stands accused of killing Sian Sanchez, 36, and Howard Blake, 51, in a blaze which engulfed their squat at Redbridge Cottage, in Old Abingdon Road, Oxford, on January 2 last year.

At Oxford Crown Court today, the jury heard from paramedics who were called to the cottage on December 28 - five days before the fire - following an alleged assault on Cox.

Ambulance technicians Benjamin Keble and James Hudson said they arrived at Old Abingdon Road to be told by members of the public that Cox had said he had been attacked.

Mr Keble said: "He wouldn't give us his name and was refusing to answer any questions.

"He told us he had been attacked by a man and a woman.

"We asked him about it, but all he would say was that he would get his own back and did not want the police involved."

The jury was also played tapes of 999 calls Cox made on the night of the fatal fire.

The first call was made at about 1.30am on January 2 when Cox called police to tell them Howard Blake was trying to rape Sian Sanchez at Redbridge Cottage.

PC Peter Lomas told the court when he and other officers arrived at the scene a female officer had been threatened with an iron bar by a man and woman at the house.

Officers left the house but another 999 call was made by Cox at about 2.20am.

PC Steve Simpson was one of the officers sent to the phone box from where Cox made the second call and said he was "clearly drunk" and was mumbling about a woman being in danger at Redbridge Cottage.

PC Simpson said: "We were aware of officers being called to the address earlier in the night and knew the first call had been a hoax call."

The fire is believed to have started between 3am and 4.30am and the jury later heard from Gerard Porter, working as a milkman at a dairy in Old Abingdon Road at the time of the incident.

Mr Porter said he went to the scene after a colleague came into the depot at about 4am and said he had seen smoke coming from Redbridge Cottage and two people running away from it.

He said: "I saw a man coming from the Go Outdoors shop across the road who I later learned was Cox. He crossed the road and appeared to be telling the firemen there was someone in the building."

The case continues.