A Colchester man accused of hiring a hitman to kill his stepfather over a inheritance row had no “financial or emotional motive” to carry it out, a court heard.

Flash Ashley Day, 47, of Rose Allen Avenue, denies a charge of conspiracy to murder his stepfather John Sales, who was stabbed at his home in Hythe Hill on November 10, 2015.

Mr Sales, 71, survived the brutal attack but needed emergency treatment for injuries to his heart, kidneys and face.

Ryan Hynes, 22, of Long Road, Manningtree, has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Sales and is currently awaiting sentence.

The prosecution alleges Mr Day hired Hynes to kill his stepfather in a bid to receive his mother’s inheritance, which included the £240,000 Hythe Hill property.

Mr Day’s mother – Josephine Day – married Mr Sales in 1995 and died in 2009 without leaving a will, which saw her estate passed to Mr Sales.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday how Mr Day got along well with Mr Sales and his family, and was one of the executor’s of his will.

Jacqueline Carey, defending, said the prosecution case was “littered with red herrings”.

She said: “There is no financial motive and no emotional reason for Mr Day to carry this out.

“If you are told you are going to be an executor to that estate, you would not think he was going to cut you out of it. It would be an extremely callous thing for Mr Sales to do.

“Even if he was cut out of it, then planning to kill Mr Sales was hardly likely to get him the money.

“It was agreed evidence that the family got along well.”

The court heard how when Mr Day visited Mr Sales in the hospital, he wept for his stepfather.

Ms Carey told the jury: “So he cares so little about his stepfather, he wants him dead? He cares so little about what Mr Sales meant to his mother Josephine that he wants him topped? Yet when he sees Mr Sales, he bursts into tears.

“There is not a jot of evidence to say how, when or where this alleged plan was carried out. There is not a collective noun for red herrings but if there was, it would apply to this case.

“When you analyse the evidence, there will be doubt,”

The jury of seven women and five men is expected to begin deliberations tomorrow, Wednesday May 24.