A MAN accused of stabbing a party-goer to death in Bradford appeared in court yesterday.

Stanislav Misko, 47, of Carlisle Road, Manningham, is accused of murdering 23-year-old Marek Benak in the early hours of October 23 after a row at a house party in Great Horton.

Slovakian Misko, who is believed to have only been in the UK for about four weeks before the incident took place, spoke via an interpreter to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

Unshaven, slim and with short dark hair, Misko - in a dark blue jumper and light-grey jogging bottoms - gave a small smile towards the public gallery when he was brought into the dock in court three at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court flanked by two prison officers. He gave a similar smile and a wave in the same direction as he was led away after the brief hearing.

Magistrates remanded him in custody and told him that his next hearing would be at Bradford Crown Court on Monday morning.

His solicitor, Alias Yousaf, told the court: "There may well be an application for bail on Monday morning."

Mr Benak, who was from Slovakia, was found with serious injuries when police were called at about 3.20am to reports of a disturbance at an address on Great Horton Road.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. A postmortem confirmed that Mr Benak died from a single stab wound.

One nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I was at home when it happened, it was about three o'clock.

"I've lived here for about three years, and this is the first time I've seen anything like this. I've had a sleepless night, it's a big shock."

A police cordon was set up around the scene after the stabbing to allow forensics officers to carry out investigations.

Ward councillor Nazam Azam (Lab, City) said after the incident: "It is terrible and shocking news."