A MAN has been convicted murdering another man in a frenzied knife attack at a Warndon flat.

Joao De Oliveira, 34, was convicted of murder by a jury at Worcester Crown Court this afternoon.

He killed John Lloyd on January 13 last year after becoming jealous of the 56-year-old's relationship with his girlfriend.

The victim suffered 68 stab wounds in the attack.

His co-accused, Marco Da Rocha, has been found not guilty of murder.

The court heard earlier that Mr Lloyd had a police record for a violent attack on his lover.

He was drunk when he slashed the woman's neck with a craft knife and threatened to kill her, said defence barrister Rex Tedd QC.

The case ended up before a judge in 1996 when Mr Lloyd was convicted of wounding.

Seven years later, Mr Lloyd walked up to an ex-partner, who was in a park with a man, and told her he was going to slit her throat.

Revealing the victim's past, Mr Tedd, for De Oliveira, said his client had received injuries to his arm and finger on the night of the killing after being set upon by Mr Lloyd.

Mr Tedd argued that De Oliveira knifed his victim either in self defence or due to provocation when frightened and in pain.

Decorator Mr Lloyd was found dead with 68 stab wounds at his home in Windermere Drive.

De Oliveira, of Northfield Street, Worcester, and Mr Da Rocha, 33, of Broad Street, Worcester, were both charged with murder.

The prosection alleged De Oliveira killed Mr Lloyd after they clashed over Angela Maggs, who was pregnant with the defendant's baby, while Da Rocha kept guard.

But Rachel Brand QC, for Mr Da Rocha, said her client was not aggressive, had no police record and was under the control of De Oliveira, who she described as "a cunning liar".

She said he had got his mother to wash his blood-stained clothes through fear and panic and a need to distance himself from a crime he had nothing to do with.

  • For more on this story, see tomorrow's Worcester News.