Witness gives evidence in court after Adam Pritchard was killed outside the Queen's Head in Boughton-under-Blean

A witness to a fatal stabbing in a pub told police that the stabber “did not react at all” when he was shot with an air rifle carried by his victim.

The weapon, described to officers as a pistol, is believed to have been fired during a violent altercation between William Cosier and Adam Pritchard outside the Queen's Head in Boughton-under-Blean on March 13 this year.

Mr Pritchard, a father of three who lived in nearby Faversham, had only been at the venue for five minutes when Cosier plunged a large kitchen knife nearly nine inches into his chest, causing fatal blood loss.

The 34-year-old, known as Billy or Bill, later told police he did this to stop Mr Pritchard from “continuously” shooting the gun at him.

But the witness, who observed the incident from the window of a building on The Street, recalled that the gun may not have been drawn until after the victim had already been stabbed.

In a recorded interview played to jurors at Canterbury Crown Court, they described how Mr Pritchard fired the gun “quite a few times” while the two men stood close together and Cosier still held the knife.

“It sounded like air. It just happened so fast,” they recalled.

However, when asked if Cosier had taken any action, they replied, “No reaction at all. You could hear it and see it, but Bill? No reaction.”

Cosier, of Well Lane, Canterbury, denies murder and the alternative offence of manslaughter.

The witness, whose identity is protected by a court order, told police he was looking out into the street when he heard a commotion outside the pub's entrance.

Mr Pritchard allegedly repeatedly waved Cosier out, shouting “Come on, Bill” and “Show me what you've got”, while Cosier repeatedly stuck his “head and body” out of the pub.

Cosier was then seen emerging with the knife to his back while others were overheard telling him, “Don't be silly” and to go back inside.

The witness added that Mr Pritchard “tried to get Bill to make the first move” as they continued to “exchange contradictions” and talk “back and forth”.

When the witness saw Cosier with the knife, he walked away from the window to alert a relative before returning to further observe the incident.

The court heard he was seen entering and leaving the pub two or three times.

Recalling the moment the violence broke out, the witness said, “I believe Adam was stabbed, and I'm not sure at that point if Adam pulled the gun… I saw and heard the gun trying to shoot Bill.”

“They were very close. That's why it all happened so quickly and was so hard to see when Adam was stabbed. All I know is that after Bill started shooting the gun, he tried to get back into the bar.”

Under cross-examination yesterday (19 September) by Cosier's barrister Jonathan Higgs KC, the witnesses said they were “fairly certain” they first saw and heard the weapon “after the first stab” as the men fought at the entrance to the Queen's Head car park.

“They were standing very close together and Bill was very close, like a rugby tackle,” they told the jury.

“Adam was above him, shooting down at him. Bill was below him. They were less than an arm's length, very close.”

It is alleged Cosier murdered Mr Pritchard in an “act of aggression” after a telephone argument between the victim and another man – Craig Brabon – escalated from “friendly banter” to a confrontation outside the pub shortly before 10.40pm.

The 35-year-old painter and decorator was fatally stabbed with a knife that Cosier, who had been drinking and snorting cocaine since lunch with Mr Brabon, had retrieved from the kitchen just moments earlier, ignoring the pleas of landlady Claire Hammond.

The blade was never found, but after his arrest he told police he stabbed Mr Pritchard while “multiple” shots were fired at his head, face and body.

The court heard that Cosier later had to go to the hospital to have several metal bullets removed from the gun.

However, jurors were told that while it was not known “exactly” when the fatal stab wound occurred or when the shot was fired, the prosecution believed that Cosier did not act in self-defense and that his intention was to cause “at least” serious harm, “if not kill,” to the victim that night.

The process continues.