A resident at a block of flats has described the moment he found a half-naked, lifeless body in a stairwell.

Ryan Ringer told a murder trial jury he called out to the man, who was dressed in just a pair of boxer shorts, several times but got no response.

He then moved closer to tap him with his foot before realising the man, later identified as 29-year-old James O'Rourke, was dead.

It is alleged that he was beaten, stabbed and tied up before being dumped in the stairwell at Caulkers House in Shipwrights Avenue, Chatham.

Mr O'Rourke was found lying face down between floors four and five at about 7.20am on August 28 last year.

In the dock at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent are Daniel Fox, 35, Neil Taylor, 36, and Caroline Rushworth, also 35. All three deny murder.

Rushworth and Taylor were partners at the time and lived in the same block of flats.

Mr O'Rourke was seen on CCTV arriving at Rushworth's flat on the sixth floor just before 10.45pm on August 26 last year. He was never seen alive again.

Fox, of no fixed address, was also seen arriving at the flat that same evening and then leaving at 8.30am the next day, August 27. He did not return.

Mr Ringer was heading out on a Bank Holiday day trip to Margate with his partner Helga Szucs and their young child when they made the gruesome discovery.

Giving evidence today he told the jury of eight men and four women: "It was my partner who saw him first and said: 'There's a body on the stairs down there.'

"That's when I went to have a look. I got about halfway down the stairs and I called out about two or three times to ask if he was okay.

"I didn't get no response so walked down a little further and tapped him with my foot and said 'You ok mate?'

"It's at that point I thought he might be deceased so I went and told my mum to get police."

Mr Ringer said he, Miss Szucs and their child, who was in a pushchair, then headed up to the sixth floor to take the lift down.

Rushworth and Taylor were already in the lift, also going to the bottom.

Mr Ringer continued: "I just said 'Do you realise there's a dead body on the fourth floor stairwell?' Caroline said 'It's got nothing to do with me.'."

Earlier in the trial, Miss Szucs told the court Rushworth and Taylor were 'in a terrible state'.

Mr Ringer's mum Sara Ringer was staying with her partner Andrew Odley at his flat in the same block. Having been alerted by her son, she and Mr Odley also went out to the stairwell.

She told the court she could see the body and 'immediately' recognised him to be a man she had seen sitting outside Rushworth's flat just after 9pm the previous evening.

They then saw Rushworth and Taylor coming down the stairs. Miss Ringer said Rushworth told her the man was someone called Jamie.

"Caroline had a phone in her hand and Andy said to her 'Are you going to call the emergency services or am I?'," said Miss Ringer.

"She didn't say anything. We all walked upstairs. Neil and Caroline went into Caroline's flat and me and Andy went into his and he called 999."

Mr Odley noticed Taylor had bruising and cuts to his face. He told the jury Taylor said he had 'got into a fight with some people' the previous evening on Millennium Green in Chatham.

It is the prosecution case that the three defendants acted together in killing Mr O'Rourke, who died from trauma to his face and head.

The trial, which started on Tuesday, is expected to last up to eight weeks.

The jury, together with Judge Philip Statman, barristers and court staff visited the alleged murder scene yesterday.