A DRUG addict who admitted bludgeoning a dealer to death with a piece of wood was sensationally cleared of murder and manslaughter on Thursday.

Toby Edwards was jailed for 15 months for preventing the burial of the body, but because of time spent in custody he was due to be released immediately.

The 30-year-old ex-soldier looked pale and stunned as the jury of six men and six women announced their verdicts after deliberating for almost eight hours. There were cheers from the public gallery and Edwards’s journalist father Peter and his wife hugged each other.

Maidstone Crown Court heard during the seven-day trial that Edwards kept the body of Carl Biddiss in his airing cupboard for three days before dumping it at a nearby railway track.

He claimed that he killed Mr Biddiss in self-defence after he was attacked with a knife.

He eventually dragged the body, wrapped in bin bags, to Maidstone Barracks station. But the bizarre and macabre scene had been witnessed by night owls in a neighbouring flat.

And when police investigated, the bloody trail led them from the station straight to Edwards’s door at Ruth House, Lesley Place, Buckland Hill.

Edwards claimed that he had only struck Mr Biddiss twice but a pathologist found that there had been at least 15 separate blows to the head and body.

Jurors heard how Edwards was part of a drugs group taking heroin and crack cocaine and 39-year-old Mr Biddiss was a supplier.

The day before, Mr Biddiss had been staying at a bed and breakfast with another drug user, Melvin Treays. Mr Biddiss telephoned Edwards and asked if he could stay the next night at his flat. He offered drugs as payment and Edwards agreed.

Mr Biddiss and Mr Treays went to London on January 26 to buy drugs. Out of the £1,000 he had on him, Mr Biddiss bought half an ounce of crack cocaine for £450 and a quarter of an ounce of heroin for £220.

They returned to Maidstone and went to Edwards’s flat and smoked some of the drugs. Mr Treays left later that evening, leaving Mr Biddiss and Edwards alone. Some time during the night, Edwards killed Mr Biddiss.

Aferwards, he pretended to friends that the victim was still alive. But it was when he moved the body, dragging it with the rope around the neck, that he was arrested. Edwards denied murder but admitted preventing the burial of a corpse.

Witness after witness, some for the prosecution, spoke disparagingly of Mr Biddiss, describing him as an unpleasant and violent man. Edwards, in contrast, earned the praise of friends, one calling him a "normal, nice polite person".

Icah Peart, QC, defending, said of Edwards after the verdicts: "He is not by nature a man given to violence."

Mr Peart said the maximum sentence for preventing the burial of a corpse was five years imprisonment. Edwards had been in custody for almost a year.

"Bearing in mind his non-violent track record I have it in mind to ask you to pass such a sentence that would allow his immediate release," he said.

Mr Justice Bell told Edwards: "It is a serious matter when anyone dies under any circumstances not immediately to reveal that to the authorities and, worse still, to make some effort to dispose of the body.

"That said, your attempts to hide the body were completely inept. Inevitably, the body would be found soon, rather than later."

The judge said he could not avoid passing a prison sentence, but because of Edwards’s guilty plea it would be one of 15 months.

"You have served more than half of it so far, so I expect your release to be immediate," he added.