A man accused of shooting a homeless former soldier told police he wouldn't know what to do with a gun despite being pictured posing with an air rifle.

Father-of-four Richard Donovan allegedly blasted Philip Fox with a shotgun in a tent behind Riverside Retail Park in Wincheap last August.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 26-year-old may have shot the helpless 59-year-old simply because he wanted to kill someone.

But Donovan, who was brought up in Canterbury, insisted when quizzed by prosecutor Sandip Patel he had never owned or fired a weapon apart from an air rifle he acquired from a traveller he knew only as Paul.

Oliver Saxby QC, defending, had previously asked him: "What did you do with the air rifle apart from taking photos of yourself looking hard?"

To which Donovan replied: "Shot cans", adding he had since got rid of the weapon.

He said he couldn't believe it when ex-girlfriend Daisy Avery told the police he had carried out the murder.

The pair had been together on the day in question with Miss Avery allegedly sent away from the crime scene to get tobacco and returning to the sound of a gun shot.

Miss Avery says Donovan later confessed to her.

Miss Avery and Donovan broke up some months after the murder and she pursued a relationship with his former friend Damon Gower.

Mr Saxby established Donovan had seen Mr Gower in the area of woodland where Mr Fox lived on a number of occasions and had heard Mr Gower boast about being able to get hold of guns.

Donovan described co-defendant Tony Hindmarsh, who is accused of supplying the sawn-off shotgun, as an "alright guy who he had met before," but said he had never shown him any firearms.

Hindmarsh, 36, of Romney Sands Holiday Park, The Parade, Greatstone, is married to Donovan's cousin and denies selling him the gun but admits possessing prohibited ammunition.

Donovan said he had lost count of the number of times he had pitched a tent in the same area of woodland during periods when he was homeless.

He said when he had last seen Mr Fox everything had been "dandy" yet he never returned to the spot.

When asked why he hadn't gone back to visit Mr Fox, Donovan said: "Because that's what we do. We share alcohol, food and stories.

"When you're on the streets you look out for each other but when you've got somewhere to go that's it. I had no reason to check on him."

Mr Patel said: "The reason you did not go back was because you shot him dead. He had seen you with the shotgun and you were worried he was going to say something."

Donovan replied: "I did not kill him. I have no reason to kill anyone."

The trial continues.