A burglar was “lawfully killed” when he was stabbed last year by an elderly man whose London home he had entered, a coroner has ruled.

Richard Osborn-Brooks, 79, who was arrested after stabbing Henry Vincent at his house, had told the inquest Vincent ignored a warning and ran into the blade.

Osborn-Brooks had warned Vincent that his knife was “bigger than yours and if you don’t leave my house you will be sorry”, the hearing was told. He gave evidence on Thursday via audiolink at the inquest at Southwark coroner’s court into the death of Vincent, who was with an accomplice when he entered Osborn-Brooks’s home in Hither Green on 4 April last year.

The case drew significant interest amid outrage in some quarters over the arrest of Osborn-Brooks on suspicion of murder. He was later released and told that he would face no further action.

The area opposite the house where Osborn-Brooks lived with his wife, Maureen, became a flashpoint as Vincent’s relatives and friends repeatedly laid flowers, which were later torn down by local people and others.

Richard Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder after Vincent’s death. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Recording his verdict, senior coroner Andrew Harris said: “In considering the force it would seem that, given there are two intruders at night, one with a weapon, the use of moderate force would seem to me to reasonably be proportionate.

“It seems to me the combination of unpredictability and fear were factors that have to be taken into account considering the proportionality of the force that was used.”

Osborn-Brooks told the hearing that two men had knocked on his door, grabbed him and pushed him inside. One shoved him towards the kitchen and the other ran upstairs as they both demanded money.

He said that after he picked up the largest kitchen knife from a six-knife holder, Vincent’s accomplice fled through the front door.

He told the hearing Vincent, who was wearing a balaclava, then came down the stairs carrying a screwdriver and said: “Get out of my way or I’ll stick you with this.”

Harris read Osborn-Brooks’s police statement to him and said: “You said: ‘I think you’re wrong because mine’s bigger than yours and if you don’t leave my house you will be sorry.’”

Osborn-Brooks replied: “I was just showing him that the knife I had was actually bigger than the screwdriver. So if he was to lunge at me he would hit my knife rather than hit me first.

“I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door, which was open. My intention was to get him out of the house and away from my wife.

“I still think that Mr Vincent rushes forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us. He definitely didn’t try to get out of the front door, he came towards me.”

The coroner went on to question Osborn-Brooks about what he had told police officers after the incident. The officers had filmed his account on a body-mounted camera.

Harris said: “Bodycam footage shows you thrusting your arm forward in explaining what happened. That would mean there is a combination of his running toward you and your putting your arm forward. It’s not a simple matter of just falling on a knife with your arm being stationary.”

Osborn-Brooks, replied: “I don’t accept that I moved my arm forward because I was still stuck up against the wall. I was petrified.”

A pathologist who carried out the postmortem on Vincent, said in a statement that a toxicology report indicated “a recent use of both cocaine and heroin” and that he “may have been experiencing the effects” at the time of the raid.