News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

An identical twin has appeared in court charged with murdering his brother after a row at a New Year’s Eve party.

Police were called to the family home at 9pm and found 31-year-old carpenter Chris Cerqua seriously injured.

Paramedics rushed him to hospital but he died an hour later.

His brother Robert was arrested at 2.25am on New Year’s Day five miles away.

The plasterer appeared at Southampton magistrates court accused of murder. He was remanded in custody to Winchester crown court.

Chris is understood to have been stabbed twice at their parents’ house in Hythe, Hants.

A postmortem has been concluded but police refused to confirm his injuries.

The dead man’s girlfriend wept last night as she said they had been robbed of a future together.

Mum-of-four Lisa Harfield, 40, told how they had planned to see in the New Year together before police told her of his death.

The divorcee, who had got back with Chris after a brief split, said: “On New Year’s Eve we had a drink at a country pub, just us two.

"We had a great laugh as usual then I dropped him back at his mum’s.

(Image: © Solent News & Photo Agency)

“We wanted to see in the New Year together but he needed a nap first. I texted him about 9.20pm, as he asked, but got no reply and I presumed he was still asleep.”

By this time paramedics were fighting to safe Chris’s life.

Lisa spent the night at her mother’s house and was called by police as she drove home next morning.

She said: “The officers arrived and told me I’d better sit down. Then they said there’d been an altercation and Chris had died of his injuries.

"I just broke down.

“I simply can’t imagine what his parents are going through.”

Chris lived with mum Denise, 49, and dad Peter, 59, in a terraced crescent.

The brothers could be told apart by Chris’s eyebrow piercings and Robert’s tattoos of his ex-girlfriend’s name.

Receptionist Lisa said: “Chris and Robert had arguments like all brothers do but it was silly little things.

"They never went more than a day without speaking and if they fell out would always shake hands and put it behind them.”

Mother-of-two Samantha Mayhew, 42, who lives opposite the crime scene, said: “I feel so sorry for those parents. It’s bad enough to lose one child but to have your other son charged with his murder is dreadful.”