One of the men accused of murdering Neill Buchel was “rolling around the floor, laughing his b*****ks off” when he saw the father-of-two knocked through a glass cabinet, three months before he was killed.

Barking and Dagenham Post: A police helicopter hovers over The Chase, Dagenham, where Neill's leg was found on April 1. Picture: Ellie HoskinsA police helicopter hovers over The Chase, Dagenham, where Neill's leg was found on April 1. Picture: Ellie Hoskins (Image: Archant)

Chas Quye, 36, of Stansgate Road, Dagenham, told Blackfriars Crown Court he was “legless” on December 12, 2013, when co-accused Scott “Gary” Hunt, 42, of Braintree Road, had a “punching competition” with the South African Neill.

“As you can see, Gazza’s a big old lump, and ‘Southie’ [Neill] was stood in the middle of the room,” he told the court.

“Gazza’s gone to hit him and he’s gone flying straight throught through the bloody cabinet.

“I was rolling round the floor laughing my bloody b*****ks off.

Barking and Dagenham Post: Police dredging White Hart Lakes in Eastbrookend Country Park, off The Chase, Dagenham, where Neill's leg was discovered on April 1. The rest of his body was recovered in the following daysPolice dredging White Hart Lakes in Eastbrookend Country Park, off The Chase, Dagenham, where Neill's leg was discovered on April 1. The rest of his body was recovered in the following days (Image: Archant)

“He’s gone thud, right on his bloody nose. F***ing crunch.

“After the laughter, I clocked on though. S**t, he looked a bit wobbly there, it’s got beyond a joke.

“We helped him out, but he cut his hand.

“If a baby falls over or you see someone fall off their bike you laugh your b*****ks off, but when you see them get hit by a f***ing bus, you don’t laugh then.”

Barking and Dagenham Post: Neill Buchel with his familyNeill Buchel with his family (Image: Archant)

Asked whether the group stamped or kicked each other on the floor, Quye told the court that would be going to far.

“You’re basically a c**t if you do that, if the fellow’s down on the deck.

“There’s no fun in that.”

A father to two young children – Kaizer, four, and Katie, between eight and nine – with two different ex-partners, Quye, told the court the Jackass-style pranks started off with him.

“We thought we’d get rich off YouTube,” he added.

“It’s nothing like the prosecution lot have been trying to make out – it was all in jest.”

Asked about putting chilli on his genitals, he said: “The [chilli] did really hurt.

“On a scale of one to 10, well, let’s just say I didn’t sleep that night, but it was a giggle.”

He went on to explain how the group regularly punched each other and “constantly” stamped on one another’s feet for the fun of it.

“We’d be just sat there getting bored, so if you see your mate looking away, you’d give him a quick one in the kidneys or the side of the face.

“You’d expect it back. You’ve got to keep on your guard as much as possible.

“It’s a normal thing. You see it all over TV on Jackass and Dirty Sanchez, and with every squaddie and every stag do.”

Pointing to the prosecution, he told the jury: “They’re just trying to make it into a bad thing.”

A former labourer, handyman and doorman of 15 years for anything from illegal raves to festivals, Quye claims he has never held any certificates and was always paid off-the-books.

“I’m a jack of all trades, paper of none,” he said.

He has three previous convictions – driving while drunk, punching a woman and possessing an offensive weapon in public, a “telescopic cosh”.

“I bought it for my old lady,” he explained. “She was up the duff at the time.

“I thought it was mine, but turned out it wasn’t.”

Quye lived with his “strict” father Fred, in Northerned Park, Dagenham, until his death in January 2000, and older brother, Justin, plus three older half-brothers Michael, Jerry and Bradley Anderson – the latter pair both serving in the army.

“If we didn’t do what we were told, he’d kick the living daylights out of me,” he said of his late father. “He was a bit strict.

“We always used to try and toughen each other up, which my father encouraged.

“It’s either man up, boy, or get kicked.”

Quye met “best mate” and co-defendant Elvis Kwiatkowski – who this afternoon decided not to give any evidence in his defence – aged six at Five Elms Primary. The pair later went to Robert Clack secondary school together.

Starting off his defence, Quye was asked to decribe a number of people involved with the case, including Buchel’s estranged wife Sharon.

“I never met her, but I knew she was a brass,” he said, before clarifying for the jury: “A whore, but each to their own.

“Obviously it wasn’t very nice for the daughter, but it’s just her job – it’s up to her what she does.

“People are born into different lives and different situations.”

The trial continues.