NEWPORT MAN Gavin Mills kicked, punched and even jumped on the body of Polish baker Jerzy Dubiniec as he lay in the road, a court heard yesterday.

Mills, 26, of Glebe Street, is on trial at Newport Crown Court accused of murdering Mr Dubiniec, 60, on August 20 last year.

He is also accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Benjamin Davies on the same date.

Mills denies the charges.

Gregg Taylor QC told the court how Mills had been to Blacks Pool Hall on Commercial Road in Newport on August 19 with friend Christina Hobbs.

He said Mills, wearing a red tracksuit and white trainers with reflective strips on the back, left before the party finished and ended up near the Church House Inn in Broad Street.

He said Mr Dubiniec was walking down Broad Street at the same time after finishing work at a bakery and was heading home to St Michael's Street.

Mr Taylor said one resident heard a noise at about 3.30am and saw a man lying in the road being kicked "many times".

He said the man took the pulse of the man on the floor then started kicking him again and left him lying in the road.

Mr Taylor said a woman living nearby also saw a man in a red tracksuit repeatedly punch an older man with both hands, headbutted him and kicked him with both feet.

Mr Taylor said there is no dispute between the prosecution and the defence that Mills was the man in the red tracksuit.

The court was also told by Mr Taylor how two cars drove around the body in the road and did not stop while another ran over Mr Dubiniec's legs - but that this did not contribute to his death.

Mr Taylor said Ms Hobbs had a phone call from Mills at some point who said: "Oh Chris I just hit someone and then a car has run over him and I think he's killed."

He said she found Mills crying and crouched in the middle of the road while Mr Dubiniec was in a pool of blood but did not appear to be dead.

Mr Taylor said she told Mills he was still breathing and said "we're not going to leave him" while on the phone to the ambulance service.

But he said as she turned back she saw him jumping and landing with both feet on the man's body, she "went nuts" at him, and called Mills "sick".

Newport Crown Court heard how Jerzy Dubiniec spent more than 40 years working as a baker and had been a "master of his trade".

Mr Taylor said he was married with children and retired in 2000 but missed his work and went to Newport to help Daniel Binek at his bakery in Enterprise Way.

Mr Taylor said Mr Dubiniec had never been out of Poland before and spoke no English.

He said his job was to advise Mr Binek, oversee the baking process and would be there for two or three months.

He left Poland on July 27 last year and arrived in Newport on a lorry.

Proceeding.