A gypsy battered a pensioner to death with a crowbar because he was disappointed with what he found to steal from his house, a court heard.
Drug addict Frankie Parker, 26, is accused of murdering 76 year-old Llwywelyn Thomas after raiding his £500,000 country home with his uncle Gary Smith, 21.
A jury heard that Parker was annoyed at getting ‘a pretty poor return’ on the burglary – and launched a savage assault on the retired Welsh farmer.
The career crook smashed a crowbar on Mr. Thomas’ head and stamped and kicked him on the floor, it was said.
Parker and Smith are then accused of leaving the elderly widower for dead in his converted chapel home in Chittering, Cambs., in December 2011.
Cambridge Crown Court head that the two defendants only managed to steal ornamental eggs, a wallet, some watches and the keys to Mr. Thomas’ V-reg car.
They made off in the ageing Rover which he was restoring but dumped it four miles away after realising it could not go above 20mph.
Bernard Tetlow QC, defending Smith, said Parker was trying to feed an £70-a-day amphetamines habit which made him aggressive.
Cross-examining Parker, he accused him of getting annoyed at his “pretty poor return” from the burglary.
Mr Tetlow challenged him: “So angry and aggressive and frustrated as you were, you brought that crowbar down on his head more than once and you killed him.
“And then you stamped on him and kicked him for good measure didn’t you?”
Parker, a father-of-three who lived on a travellers’ site in East Chesterton, Cambs., replied: “that’s incorrect.”
The court heard that Parker became a self-taught burglar and car thief at the age of 14.
He was convicted of robbery in 2005 where he threatened a female petrol station worker with a crowbar.
But Parker claimed he would never hurt an old person.
When asked about his alleged confessions in which he apparently boasted about smashing an “old man’s face right in”, he said: “I brag about stuff that I have not done when I drink.”
Parker, who said his co-defendant was previously “like a brother”, claimed Smith grabbed his crowbar off him and barged into the house after asking the victim for a drink when he answered the door.
Mr Tetlow said Parker knocked on the door, told the victim he was an “innocent stranded motorist” and asked for water before barging in carrying the crowbar.
The court heard Smith was scared of Parker and even during the trial had been ‘getting threats’ telling him to “take the blame.”
Mr Tetlow told Parker: “You are determined to try and save your own skin at the expense of Gary Smith.”
Parker said: “I’m determined to tell the truth.”
Parker and Smith both deny murder and Smith, of no fixed abode, denies an additional charge of robbery.
Trial continues.
