A dad accused of murdering a child rapist after he was said to have sniggered about his past told police "I just lost my temper", a jury has heard.

Simon Brown claimed 71-year-old William Rowe was "bragging and laughing" when apparently confronted with a KentOnline article reporting his conviction from 11 years earlier.

The 28-year-old said when the pensioner told him it "wasn't the first time and probably wouldn't be the last time" that he raped someone, he became "really upset" and lashed out.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard Brown describe punching Mr Rowe to his head, face and chest, and kicking him once to the torso before leaving him knocked out as "one boxer might knock out another".

Mr Rowe's lifeless, blanket-covered body was found by police at the home of a mutual friend, Rosemary Ripley, in Mercury Close, Borstal near Rochester, on the morning of September 5 last year.

But opening the case against the father of two, prosecutor Julian Evans KC said the contention that he never intended to cause serious harm or to kill his victim was "simply not true" and "wholly undermined" by the severity of the injuries suffered.

Jurors were told it was also the prosecution case that Brown "in all likelihood" already knew about Mr Rowe's conviction before that fateful night.

It was Brown's mother Kay who had made the 999 call after her son had arrived at her home in Chatham and, crying, told her "I am so scared. I beat this man up. I think I killed him. He was a nonce. He brutally raped a two-year-old."

Mr Rowe was discovered propped upright against a sofa and sitting on the bloodstained living room carpet with his head and upper body wrapped in a towel.

The pensioner was partially-clothed in a T-shirt, underwear and one sock.

Mr Evans said it was apparent on removing the towel that he had been dead "for some time" and had sustained multiple injuries.

These included a significant one to his brain, fractures to his nose and eye area, lacerations and bruising. Several rib fractures were inflicted on both sides of his body. A tooth had also been knocked out and his neck subjected to blunt force trauma.

A pathologist later concluded he had been punched, kicked and possibly stamped on during a sustained assault in which he had tried to shield his head, neck and torso from blows.

Mr Evans told the court there was no dispute that Brown, of Snowdon Close, Chatham, inflicted the "violent" injuries from which Mr Rowe was to die between late on Sunday, September 3, and the early hours of September 4.

But the prosecutor explained: "What is in dispute is Mr Brown's intention at the time he inflicted those injuries. It is his case that he never intended to cause William Rowe serious injury, let alone to kill him. Put shortly, the prosecution say that that contention is simply not true.

"The assertion that he intended to cause some harm but not serious harm is, the prosecution suggest, wholly undermined by the severity of those multiple injuries that Mr Rowe suffered in the course of what was undoubtedly a sustained and violent assault.

"It is the prosecution case that Simon Brown attacked William Rowe. It was the defendant who began the violence - violence started at his hands and ended at his hands.

"William Rowe didn't do or say anything to provoke it. It's violence that began because Simon Brown was the aggressor and, in all likelihood, he knew full well who William Rowe was and what he had done before he entered Mercury Close that Sunday night.

"For some reason, he attacked Mr Rowe, an attack he carried out in temper and anger and, more than likely, in drink. And in the course of that attack, the defendant used overwhelming force.

"That force he used was unlawful. None of the force directed at Mr Rowe in the course of that attack was in self-defence. Far from it.

"Rather, say the prosecution, this was unlawful and sustained violence. And it was at the hands of a strong young man, then aged 27, against a much less robust and much older man aged 71.

"It was violence accompanied at the very least with an intention to cause really serious harm."

The court heard Mr Rowe had been convicted of three offences of rape, three of indecent assault and one of gross indecency with a child following a trial at the same court in 2012.

Having received what was described as a "very lengthy" prison term, he was released in 2022 and lived in Gillingham. He also had a boat - a derelict police launcher - moored on the River Medway.

It was there that he met Ms Ripley, they became friends, and she offered him a place to stay if he was ever homeless. She had also asked him to decorate her house.

On Sunday, September 3, they had dinner at her home and were joined later that evening by Brown.

Mr Rowe was said to be "quite open" about being in prison for sexual offences and had previously told Ms Ripley about it, the court heard.

But jurors were told the fact he was a convicted paedophile did not "justify or excuse" such an attack.

"It may very well be understood that such offending may provoke and excite feelings of profound distaste, disgust and revulsion," said the prosecutor.

"However, that said, William Rowe's history and those convictions recorded against him after a trial did not and do not in any way justify or excuse the awful violence that was directed against him inside that living room in Mercury Close.

"The violence, the prosecution contend, was clearly unlawful...and must have been accompanied with at least the intention to cause really serious harm, which is sufficient for the offence of murder to be made out.

"As Simon Brown told one of those officer's at his mother's address 'I just lost my temper.'."

The court was told that Brown and Ms Ripley, 33, were both arrested on suspicion of murder, although she was later released without charge.

On being cautioned, Brown replied: "I shouldn't have done that. He was bragging he raped her (a child)".

When interviewed, Brown gave a prepared statement to police.

Denying murder, he explained the three were chatting in Ms Ripley's living room when she told him "Bill" had been "in trouble for being a paedophile".

Brown stated: "I was a bit shocked and asked him a number of questions. The man said his name was William Rowe. Rose looked him up on the internet, she showed me her phone and the article read that he had been convicted of a brutal sexual attack on a child.

"He had not said much about what happened up until this. I questioned him further, I showed him the article. His response was to laugh, a sort of snigger, and that it wasn't the first and probably not the last time he raped someone.

"His comments and attitude really upset me. I got up and said something like 'You dirty c***'. I swung a punch at him. He stood up, we exchanged punches."

Brown added he managed to avoid some of Mr Rowe's blows and then he landed one himself which caused the pensioner to fall.

It was at that point that he said he punched him several more times and kicked him. Brown said he then heard "gurgling" sounds and thought Mr Rowe had been knocked out so pulled him up by his neck and positioned him against the sofa.

He added the pensioner was "alive and still breathing."

Brown maintained no weapon was used and that, not knowing what to do and in a panic, he and Ms Ripley left the house.

Their departure was captured on CCTV at about 4.30am, and they were not seen to return to the house for 19 hours.

That visit lasted about a minute-and-a-half before they left for a second time and eventually went to his mum's house early on September 5

The court heard that in the intervening time neither Brown nor Ms Ripley had summoned help for the stricken Mr Rowe.

Following the pair's arrests, police discovered an internet search had been carried out on Ms Ripley's phone at 5.48am using the words "KentOnline William Rowe".

The prosecution said this appeared to be the first time any such search had been conducted, with further searches using the same words carried out a few hours later.

Jurors were told that when Kent Police carried out their own online investigation, information was "indeed available" from the news website in an article dated November 27, 2012, and headlined "Dartford rapist William Rowe locked up for brutal sex attacks on young girl two decades ago".

Brown denies murder between September 3 and September 6 last year, and the trial continues.