Hartlepool murder accused claims friend tried to kill him in a struggle. Callum Howe, 23, denies murder and claims he acted in self-defence after being 'scared for his life'. Howe was found dead in a property in Allerton Close, Hartlepool, by emergency services on 23 November last year after neighbours reported a disturbance. Prosecutors said Callum Howe, 23, of Blakelock Gardens, struck the victim at least 10 times in the face with an axe or hatchet. Howe denies murder and claims he acted in self-defence after being 'scared for his life'. Jurors previously heard Rasul and another man had been staying with Howe in a flat on Allerton Close in the days before the attack, with the trio taking lots of drugs and not sleeping or eating in the lead-up to the incident. Emergency services were called to the cul-de-sac after Howe jumped out of a window and was seen stumbling around covered in blood and shouting for help. While assisting Howe, police and paramedics entered the flat and found Rasul on the bedroom floor. He was declared dead a short while later, jurors heard. Howe told the court he and the deceased had been very good friends since they were six or seven, and had lived together previously at a number of properties. When asked by his defence barrister Nicholas Lumley KC if he accepted he killed his friend, he replied yes, but not intentionally. Howe said he did not believe he had left his friend for dead and was 'devastated' by what had happened. The pair had never had any physical confrontations previously, only 'daft' arguments, he said. Rasul had come to stay with his Japanese Akita dog Rocco, of which Howe was wary, describing the pet as 'unpredictable'. He said the pair had been taking cocaine and cannabis.