A MAN was hurled from a 14th-floor tower block window after being

stabbed nine times in the stomach, a murder trial at the High Court in

Edinburgh heard yesterday.

The body of Mr John Sutherland, 48, dressed only in underpants, shirt,

and jersey, was found with ''catastrophic injuries'' after a 122ft fall

from the window

in Peffermill Court, Edinburgh.

Detective Constable James Calder, of Lothian and Borders CID, told the

court that he had visited a flat on the 14th floor of the building after

the body was discovered early on January 6.

Mr Calder said that, on entering the flat of murder accused Meldrum

Hazell, 33, he saw bank notes covered in blood drying on a radiator in

the hallway and then found bloodstains in a bedroom.

He said Mr Hazell was lying on a couch in the living room. When asked

what had happened in the flat, the accused said: ''I gave John a vodka

and he tried to stab me.''

Mr Calder told the court that, at that point, Mr Hazell had made a

further statement under caution.

He is alleged to have said: ''I stabbed him in the stomach nine times.

I am sorry -- I opened the window and threw him out.''

Police Sergeant Trefor Jones told the trial that when Mr Hazell was

detained and taken to Craigmillar police station, he said under caution

when asked about Mr Sutherland's death: ''I did that. I never murdered

anyone before.''

Mr Jones said that in his 18 years in the police force he had never

dealt with a death as ''traumatic'' as that of Mr Sutherland.

Later, Detective Constable Michael Watt told the court that during an

interview in a police station, Hazell had described how he had plunged a

knife into Mr Sutherland nine times.

Mr Hazell denies murdering Mr Sutherland, of Harewood Drive,

Edinburgh, by repeatedly stabbing him with a knife and pushing him out

of the 14th-floor window.

He has lodged a plea of self-defence.