A former boxer, accused of attempting to murder a 14-year-old girl today told a jury he could not remember stabbing her and had no intention to do so.

David Waterhouse, 52, who suffered brain damage in a road accident in 2001, told Bradford Crown Court: "It hurt me when I found out what happened, that I had done it. It hurt me and it still hurts me now."

Waterhouse, who is alleged to have deliberately stabbed the teenager in the chest in a garden on the Holme Wood estate in Bradford in June 2006, said he could not remember anything from taking two knives into the garden until being told he had stabbed the girl.

Questioned by prosecutor Jeremy Richardson QC, Waterhouse said his mind was a complete blank about the period when the girl was stabbed.

He said he had drunk six vodkas and a can of beer during the day, but was not drunk or angry or upset with anyone.

The teenager suffered an eight-inch-deep wound which pierced her diaphragm and liver. She lost four and a half pints of blood and her spinal muscles were damaged. She needed emergency surgery at hospital.

The father-of-four, of no fixed address, is alleged to have told police the girl was a drug user and: "I've done Bradford a favour."

Simon Myerson QC, defending, told the jury a neuro psychologist for the defence, experienced in treating patients like Waterhouse, would say that he had a mild to moderate Disexecutive Syndrome which played a large part in what happened and he was unlikely to have had the intent to kill or hurt her when he stabbed her.

He said Waterhouse did not have to prove his Disexecutive Syndrome played a part in the stabbing or that he had no intention to kill.

Waterhouse pleads not guilty to attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.