Blood was found on the trainers of a man accused of assaulting three people which belonged to two of his alleged victims, a court has heard.

Kyrone Joseph, 23, of East Ham, faces four counts of GBH, one count of wounding with intent and one count of unlawful wounding, at Snaresbrook Crown Court, after three people were attacked in separate incidents in East Ham between May and June last year.

He is alleged to have assaulted 75-year-old Patricia Beckford in Grangewood Street on May 16, 71-year-old William Boatwright in the same road on June 20 and Ann Pooley, 37, in Balaam Street on May 21.

Jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court heard on Thursday how the blood of two of the victims, Mr Boatwright and Mrs Pooley, was found on the trainers Joseph was wearing on the day of his arrest in June last year.

In his defence, Joseph told the court he had “picked up the trainers from a charity shop” a few days before being arrested.

“I did not pay for them,” he said. “The trainers were outside the shop in a box. I just picked them up.”

He claimed he did not tell officers where he got his trainers from during an interview shortly after his arrest because he “didn’t want to say they were from a charity shop”.

Joseph admitted to the court that the suspect shown in CCTV footage attacking Mr Boatwright “looked kind of similar” to him and was dressed identically to him on the day of his arrest. However, he denied the man in the CCTV footage was him.

Joseph has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.

The trial continues.