A MAN has admitted to fatally stabbing a bus passenger who asked him to stop throwing chips at his Muswell Hill girlfriend.

Anthony Joseph, 23, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 28-year-old Richard Whelan, but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, at the Old Bailey last Thursday.

Medical reports said Joseph showed signs of suffering from schizophrenia.

Joseph had been released from a Manchester jail on July 29, 2005, and that day he came to London and boarded the 43 bus in Islington.

Richard Whelan, having met girlfriend Kerry Barker, boarded the same bus at the same stop and the couple planned to get off at Muswell Hill.

Joseph, who was eating a packet of chips as he got on the bus, sat near the back of the top deck, with Mr Whelan and Miss Barker a few rows in front.

He began throwing chips at a young American woman on the bus, who got up and moved downstairs.

Joseph then turned his attention to Miss Barker and started throwing chips at her. Mr Whelan went to confront Joseph about his behaviour and a fight broke out.

CCTV footage of the following moments was crucial to the case as Joseph began stabbing Mr Whelan in the abdomen, leaving him covered in blood.

Miss Barker, 38, told the court: "The man was laughing as he threw the chips. Richard stood up and I turned around and they were fighting.

"It took me by surprise. I remember the man was basically on top of Richard and then I went over and I could see he was looking quite weak and he was hitting him back.

"The man was covering Richard and I remember trying to pull the man off him. I was ringing the bell, screaming leave him alone'."

Miss Barker, a secretary from Muswell Hill, screamed: "Oh my God, what's happening? Oh my God, stop it."

Joseph stabbed Mr Whelan five or six times, including a fatal wound to the heart.

Before the bus driver could be alerted, Joseph had got off the bus at the stop in Holloway Road, near the junction with Wedmore Street.

Ms Barker came downstairs screaming for help and Richard followed her. Realising he was injured, a woman on the lower deck came to his aid as he collapsed onto the floor.

He was taken to The Whittington Hospital, in Archway, but died shortly after arriving.

In May this year, a jury failed to reach a verdict on the murder charge against Joseph, of Theseus Walk, Islington.

On Thursday, a second Old Bailey jury was also unable to reach a decision and a plea of manslaughter was accepted. Joseph will be sentenced on a date yet to be set.