A STUNNED neighbour said she was saw gas taps were on “full blast” seconds before finding her blooded friend dead on the floor.

Melissa Mcgrory walked into Gordon McGhee’s flat in the hours after she died from multiple stab wounds in his flat in Forest Road, Colchester.

Danny Bostock, 33, of Berberis Walk, Colchester, denied murder and attempted arson.

He is said to have tried to make the flat explode before leaving to destroy the evidence.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court, Miss Mcgrory said she had arranged to have coffee with another neighbour before deciding to check in on Mr McGhee with whom she had a close relationship.

She said: “I knocked on his door and waited a little while.

“And then I called him.

“Sometimes he would call me in or sometimes he might have been out at the shop.

“I walked in and straight away I smelled gas.

“I went straight to the kitchen and all the hobs were turned on full blast.

“I turned them off and opened a window.

“It was then I saw him on the floor of the bedroom.

“When I saw him I was in shock and just could not believe what I was seeing and I knocked on my other neighbour’s door straight away.

“She rang for the ambulance.

“After that I went into the bedroom.

“She told me I had to go and double check and touch him.

“She was saying you have got to be brave.

“I touched his legs, and then with the back of my hand I touched his stomach – both were cold.”

Miss Mcgrory said she then noticed a burned towel on the hallway floor which was allegedly used by Bostock to try to ignite the gas which had flooded the flat.

She said Mr McGhee had diabetes, drank several litres of vodka per week and occasionally smoke cannabis but described him as a “good companion”.

The trial continues.