A man accused of "bludgeoning to death" a neighbour and burning his body confessed to a friend, it has been alleged.

Michael Bryant - on trial for murder - told a pal he had carried out the deadly attack on pensioner Alan Wyatt in Gillingham, a court heard.

But one friend has told a jury he didn't believe him.

The man said: "He told me he had killed someone, but I thought he was just joking. I didn't believe him," he said.

The witness, who is in his 60s, told Maidstone Crown Court how he knew Bryant by the name of "Micky B".

Bryant, 35, of Firethorn Close, Gillingham is accused of bludgeoning to death wheelchair-bound Mr Wyatt on Valentine's Day last year.

The prosecution has alleged that after killing his victim he then started a fire at the flat.

The witness told the jury how during the past three or four years he had gone to Bryant's home to buy drugs.

"I have been taking drugs, mainly heroin for the past 40 years although I am gradually coming off them now."

He said Bryant, who he claimed also took cocaine, had visited him at his home in Fox Street, Gillingham.

The man said he has seen Bryant three or four times on the day he is alleged to have murdered his amputee neighbour.

He told police that on one of the shopping trips he took to the High Street, in Gillingham, Bryant took off his jeans to reveal he was wearing track suit bottoms underneath.

Later the witness took police to an alleyway where a pair of jeans were recovered from a wheelie bin.

He denied a suggestion from Bryant's barrister that he had told his friend to change his trousers and get rid of the jeans.

The man also denied Bryant had told him that had been present at the killing which was carried out by two men.

He added: "He told me he had killed someone. I just thought he was joking. A lot of people come out and say things which are not always believable."

Prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC has told the jury how Mr Wyatt had suffered catastrophic head injuries.

"His face had been stoved in - in other words, it had been bludgeoned with some sort of heavy implement.

"And attempt had been made to set his body alight. Mercifully, it seems that by that time he was dead."

The prosecutor added that people saw smoke coming from the flat and alerted the emergency services.

The trial continues.

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