A man is on trial accused of attempted murder after attacking his 'friend' with a knife when she came into his home through the window, a court has heard. Mark Cooke (known also as Mark Meadows) is on trial at Truro Crown Court and faces two alternative charges of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding, all relating to his friend Kiri Palfreyman. He denies all three charges.

Ramsay Quaife, prosecuting, told the court how on Tuesday, February 20, Ms Palfreyman had gone to Cooke's flat in Uglow Close in Camborne after enjoying a few drinks with friends. It was 5.30am and still dark when she came to his door thinking, being too drunk to get home, she'd spend a few hours at her friend's house instead and sober up.

Mr Quaife said Ms Palfreyman turned up at the property, banged on the door and shouted through the letter box for Cooke. When he didn't answer the door, Ms Palfreyman knocked on the window and seeing that it was open, she climbed through it, onto a low table in front of the window and stood in Cooke's living room. He then came out of his bedroom and confronted her.

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In her own evidence in court, Ms Palfreyman said Cooke accused her of stealing his mum's jewellery, something she denied, before grabbing a Stanley knife and lashing out at her throat. Mr Quaife told the jury that Ms Palfreyman felt wetness from her neck and when she touched her neck she discovered blood.

Mr Quaife said: "Ms Palfreyman has known the defendant for many years. They were friends for a number of years until a few years ago. A few weeks before this incident he had turned up at her house when he needed a friend following the death of his sister and they rekindled their friendship.

"She had visited him at his home in Chapel Street in Camborne before and would on occasion enter his property through the window. That morning in February she came to his home address in Uglow Close, shouted through the letter box and banged on the door. She went to the window and shouted 'It's Kiri'. She opened the window, moved the curtain to the side and jumped on the table and climbed in.

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"The light was on and the defendant was standing there. He accused her of stealing his mum's jewellery. He lashed out with his arm and she felt wetness coming from her neck. When she put her hand to her neck there was blood. He then said to her 'I have just slit your throat'."

Under examination, Ms Palfreyman said Cooke said to her at the time that he had slit her throat before she fled the property and sought refuge with a neighbour across the road where a light was on. Police were called and Ms Palfreyman was taken to hospital where a 15cm long cut across her throat was stitched up. The cut did not pierce any artery or go through the windpipe.

Cooke, 50, was later interviewed by police and admitted to using the sharp tool and cutting what he claimed had been an intruder in his house.

Under cross-examination from Ryan Murray, defending, Ms Palfreyman said that when she turned up at Cooke's flat there was light in his bedroom and he would have been able to see it was her and recognise it was not some burglar. Video footage from a doorbell security camera from across the road which was shown to the court, showed the flat in darkness at the time she turned up at around 5.30am.

Mr Murray told Ms Palfreyman that Cooke had not told her he'd slit her throat but had instead asked who was there as he feared an intruder had broken into his flat. She denied that was the case. She also denied that the flat was in darkness at the time, insisting there had been light coming from Cooke's bedroom.

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She also denied that Cooke had accompanied her to the door and asked her to leave, saying instead that she'd fled the property in terror and in fear for her life.

Mr Murray asked her why she told police "someone made a mistake. Someone thought it was someone else. That's it. And they slit my throat" rather than name Cooke as her attacker. She told the court that she had been "petrified" at the time, adding: "In our world you don't grass."

Asked by Mr Murray if Cooke had ever been violent or threatening to her before, Ms Palfreyman said no. He added: "Mr Cooke considered you his friend. He had no ill feelings towards you. You had spoken about his mum having her jewellery stolen in a burglary and he had accepted your explanation that it had nothing to do with you.

"This was the first time you had gone through his window at that address. He did not know it was you because he thought you were a burglar. He only put the light on after he cut you. He asked you to leave. He never said he slit your throat. Did he?"

The trial, which is expected to last until the end of the week, continues.