A POPLEY man accused of murder after he knifed two brothers has been prosecuted 46 times for 123 previous offences, a court has heard.

Kenneth Walker, 64, of Tasmania Close, is charged with murdering Craig Laurie and trying to murder his brother Scott after they came to his house on May 12.

The defendant claimed in a police interview they had been threatening him for over a year.

Also standing trial is Walker’s girlfriend, Jane Byrne, 53, of Egerton Drive, Basingstoke, who is charged with perverting the course of justice and was in his house during the incident.

READ MORE: Popley murder: Kenneth Walker pleads not guilty in court

Winchester Crown Court (Image: NQ) The jury also heard of the Laurie brothers' previous offences, as well as Facebook messages sent by Craig saying he wanted "revenge" after a group of men had beaten him up, he claimed, with baseball bats.

At Winchester Crown Court, the prosecution, led by Sean Brunton KC said that Walker has been in custody on 15 separate occasions and read out a list of some of the defendant's previous offences.

These include punching a female in the face, biting a custody officer's ear, using racial slurs and threatening his neighbour with a kitchen knife.

Byrne's previous offences were also read out by the prosecution, including an incident during which she assaulted her neighbour.

The defence, led by Jeremy Wainwright KC, read out the previous offences of the Laurie brothers.

Craig had 15 previous convictions, which included robbery, drug-related offences, assaulting police officers and threatening to "shank" a victim. He also spent time in prison.

In 2008, Scott was arrested for a series of assaults. One of these was racially aggravated.

Facebook messages sent by and to Craig Laurie between January and February this year were also read to the jury.

In one of these, he wrote: "I’m sorry, I got licked over the head by three people with bats."

Replying to queries about the attack, he added: “Outside the back of Tesco I’m sweet bro just want revenge.”

In other messages, it transpires Craig is looking for the people he said attacked him. In one, he writes: “I’m fuming. I’m going to wipe him from the planet.” This is in reference to one of the alleged attackers, but not Walker.

READ MORE: Popley murder: Kenneth Walker recounts stabbing brothers

Around a month later, he wrote: "******* done over that **** Kenny Walker the other week." This was followed by two laughing faces.

He added: "**** lives a stone’s through away from me, raised a baseball bat after me and so I […] choked him out."

In another message sent on the same day, Craig Laurie wrote: “Got snaked from behind so punched him up and got nicked.”