A man has told of his "persecution" by police after he found the body of a neighbour - and then found himself suspected of murdering him.

Graham Fitzgerald discovered grandfather Steve Berry lying in a pool of blood on his kitchen floor at his flat in Chatham last summer.

Mr Fitzgerald’s 999 call was played to a jury in which he told of his shock and horror of the ordeal.

But after he gave a statement to police he was arrested and held in custody for days.

“It was months and months later that the police told me I was no longer a suspect,” he told Maidstone Crown Court.

Jurors heard that after 46-year-old Mr Fitzgerald’s release from custody he contacted KentOnline's sister paper the Medway Messenger to protest his innocence.

He was giving evidence on Friday at the trial of Paul Campbell, 30, who was subsequently arrested after his palm and fingerprints were found on the oven door close to where the victim’s body lay.

He claimed he had never been to the home of the 59-year-old alcoholic, said to be “reasonably wealthy”, in Kinross Close, Princes Park.

But the prosecution allege the palm and fingerprint evidence pointed overwhelmingly to Campbell’s involvement in the killing.

A pathologist found Mr Berry died from a combination of haemorrhage and head injury from “multiple blunt impacts” and penetrating knife injuries to his head and face.

He had severe head injuries including a fractured skull and brain damage. There were stab wounds to the upper chest and defensive injuries to both hands.

The pathologist concluded that food tins, a Stanley knife or the broken handle of a milk pan could have been used as weapons.

Mr Fitzgerald said he had been living in his flat for about 10 years but had since been forced to move because of the suspicion that hung over him.

“I would describe Steve basically as a pretty lonely guy who lost his way,” he said. “He was affected by alcohol pretty much all day every day.

“I had difficulty with alcohol quite a few years ago. It wasn’t as acute last summer.

“He certainly wasn’t aggressive. He was harmless. I have never seen him upset in any shape or form.

“He was dishevelled. He was a hoarder. He would pick things up off the floor and take them home. To be honest, his flat was a health hazard.”

Mr Fitzgerald said Mr Berry told him about trouble he had when living at his last flat in Brompton, with people taking money from him.

At one point, he said, he had to remove a couple from the door of Mr Berry’s flat.

Mr Fitzgerald said he last saw his neighbour alive on July 7 - five days before discovering his body - when he was sitting outside reading an Andy McNab book.

He was returning from Morrisons supermarket with his dog on the afternoon of Sunday, July 12 when he saw that Mr Berry’s door was ajar.

"I am disgusted with the way I have been treated because all I did was make a ruddy phone call" - Graham Fitzgerald

He became concerned because he could not hear Mr Berry’s radio, which was always on.

“I pushed the door and it swung open,” he said. “I called out to him. The lock was hanging. The door had to have been kicked from the inside out.

“I got halfway up the corridor when I saw Steve’s feet in the kitchen. I called him again. I could see something wasn’t right.

“He was on his back. His left leg was bent. His right leg was out straight. I honestly thought he had got drunk and fallen over.

“I turned on my heels and went back to my place and phoned for an ambulance. The blood was darker than the floor tiles, which had probably never been cleaned.

“I saw streams of congealed blood on his face and hands.”

Campbell, of Farley Close, Chatham, denies murder.

Mr Fitzgerald said he contacted the Medway Messenger after his release from custody because he wanted it publicised that he was innocent.

“I had a good name around there and I felt I was being persecuted,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said he only took money from Mr Berry when he wanted drink bought for him.

Questioned by Alan Kent, QC for Campbell, he agreed he had described Mr Berry’s flat as being like a ****hole and said he lived like a tramp.

“I told him it was unhealthy to live like that,” he continued. “It was toxic.”

Mr Fitzgerald said he was trying to be helpful when interviewed by the police.

“Then he turned around and said: ‘You are under arrest.’ I said: ‘You are having a laugh mate.’"

He was arrested and held in custody.

“I wasn’t even allowed to sleep,” he said. “They were deliberately rattling the door. I didn’t know what they were trying to do to me.

“My account didn’t change from start to finish because it was true. I liked old Steve personally. He obviously had a whole lot more problems than I did.

“The police were pretty much telling me I had done it. I knew I hadn’t done it. I felt like crap. I have lost everything. I went to the local newspaper to get my side out.

“My name had already been in the paper. I thought ‘B***** it’. I was dealing with that on a daily basis. My friends were putting me up. Their windows were being put through.

“I was sick and tired of people running me down and slating me. I just felt I was being persecuted and scapegoated. All they wanted was a body.

“I asked why I was there. The only reason I was given was because I picked up the phone and dialled 999. It makes you wonder why people don’t want to get involved.”

Mr Fitzgerald added: “I am disgusted with the way I have been treated because all I did was make a ruddy phone call.

“Now, if I saw a man lying in the street I would step over him and not get involved. I have lost everything, including my home of 10 years.

“I have done b***** all wrong and I am still getting flak. I tried to do the right thing that any law-abiding right-thinking person would do and I have been persecuted for it.”

Told by prosecutor Richard Jory QC the court did not regard him as a suspect, he replied: “It doesn’t feel like it.”

The trial continues.