A man has denied murdering a pensioner described in online tributes as "a man with a big heart".

Ajay Porter appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday in relation to the death of Derek O’Hare in Dover on December 11 last year.

The 66-year-old was found by police with multiple injuries at an address in Anstee Road just after 10pm and declared dead at the scene.

Porter, of Oswald Road, Dover, has now pleaded not guilty to Mr O’Hare’s murder as well as an offence of having a bladed article, namely a knife, on the same occasion.

Danny Moore, defending, told the court that an issue for the jury to decide at the 36-year-old’s trial, which is due to start on June 10, would be whether he had acted in self-defence.

He was remanded in custody by Judge Simon James until a further hearing on May 17.

Police found Mr O'Hare's body after being called to a disturbance, and the road was cordoned off for several days as detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate carried out an investigation.

A heavy police presence was still in the area, with at least nine police vehicles spotted, two days later.

Nearby residents who spoke to KentOnline at the time described the neighbourhood as "usually peaceful and quiet".