A drug user has described how his friend's intestines were left hanging out of his body following a brutal knife attack in Great Yarmouth.

Norwich Crown Court heard how Douglas Dickson, 39, was stabbed in the back, chest and abdomen during the assault on April 17 this year.

A teenage boy, who was 15 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, is standing trial accused of attempted murder.

Giving evidence on Thursday, Gary Crane said he returned to his home on Ordnance Road to find his friend Mr Dickson in a 'bad way'.

Mr Crane, who is known by the nickname 'Maggot', said: 'There was four inches of intestines hanging out, it was horrible.

'My partner was cradling him and had a towel wrapped round him.

'I said 'what on earth has gone on', and he said to me that Marlo's boy had done it to him.'

Mr Crane, 53, said that earlier in the day, his friend Richard Greer had visited to say an individual known as 'Marlo's boy' was staying at his flat and selling drugs.

'The name Marlo was known in the area as a drug line that you would phone up to buy drugs from,' Mr Crane said.

He said he later visited Mr Greer's flat and saw a young couple inside.

Mr Crane, who has been a drug user for 20 years, said he heard the young man talking about 'reloading' and train times.

'Reloading to me would mean obtaining more drugs,' he said.

At a previous hearing prosecutor William Carter said the accused teenager had come to Great Yarmouth to deal drugs.

He said Mr Dickson was a regular user of crack cocaine and heroin, but had fallen out with the youth after he tried to get some drugs, but did not have any cash to pay for them.

He said the youth had been sent from London in what was called 'county lines dealing' and said despite Dickson leaving the flat, where he tried to buy drugs, empty-handed, the youth had followed him onto the street and attacked him.

Mr Carter said the 15-year-old was arrested at Great Yarmouth railway station and was found to have £655 in cash on him.

The defendant, now 16, has denied attempted murder on April 17 and an alternative charge of wounding with intent. He claimed he was acting in self-defence.

The trial continues.