A CHORLEY teenager brutally killed a sales assistant after "a voice in his head" told him he was going to be attacked himself, a jury has heard.

Brian Healless stabbed Alex Davies, 18, a total of 128 times in a remote wooded area in Parbold, on the afternoon of April 29, when they met for the first time after chatting on dating app Grindr.

He covered Mr Davies's body with conifer branches and then cycled away from Parbold Hill to his home in Rylands Road where police later recovered his victim's headphones, mobile phone and wallet.

Before his arrest, Healless, now 18, messaged four males on Grindr in the days that followed the killing and discussed meeting up with each of them.

Healless told two of them he could ride his bike to a rendezvous point halfway between their homes for "some outdoor fun", and mentioned finding a "discreet spot".

Yesterday, Stephen Meadowcroft QC, defending, told jurors at Preston Crown Court that Healless was not innocent, but when they considered all the evidence they should find him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

The court heard Healless, who came to England from his native Lithuania at the age of seven, had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was currently receiving treatment at a medium secure mental health unit.

Healless had found it "extremely distressing" to talk about the killing, but told medics that he and Mr Davies, from Skelmersdale, could not initially find each other when they arrived separately in Parbold.

Giving evidence, consultant psychiatrist Dr Matthew Appleyard said: "He said a voice in his head said the male was lying to him. Then they found each other and the male started to take his clothes off.

"The voice was saying the male was lying to him and was going to harm him. He felt in fear of his life and was petrified. He repeatedly stabbed him because he still believed he was going to be attacked."

Healless explained he had taken a knife to the scene for his own protection, the doctor said.

The defendant said he tried to contact other men after the killing because he "just wanted to meet somebody".

The court heard he was sexually interested in men and women but had never had a relationship.

Dr Appleyard said Healless became isolated after he dropped out of contact with school friends at the age of 15, which he thought was the start of his illness.

He later went on to quit college and had stopped talking to his family or sitting down for meals with them.

Jurors have previously heard that Healless wiped the data off two phones he stole from Mr Davies, and had searched online on how to complete a factory reset of another phone model that one of his subsequent Grindr contacts had disclosed.

Healless also made a web search for "Army military folding spade shovel pickaxe-type equipment" in between arranging to meet another male.

Dr Appleyard agreed with prosecutor David McLachlan QC that somebody who has paranoid schizophrenia can still be guilty of murder.

Referring to the phone reset search, the prosecutor suggested: "This could be him teeing up his next victim."

The consultant replied: "There are lots of possibilities."

Mr McLachlan said: "He is teeing up another victim like Alex Davies."

Dr Appleyard replied: "That's not my opinion."

Healless denies murder. The trial continues on Monday.