A MAN accused of murder told a jury he confronted the alleged victim in the minutes leading up to his death about a claim he had sexually abused a close friend.

Paul Paget told Newport Crown Court how he struggled with Anthony Bubbins at his flat after Jonathan Browning made a complaint against him.

The 54-year-old defendant, of Brynderwen Road, Newport, denies murdering Mr Bubbins, 57, between January 9 and 15.

Paget said his neighbour and friend Mr Browning, who died on January 2, told him that a man, he later understood to be the alleged murder victim, had performed a sex act on him.

Defence barrister David Elias QC asked the defendant to describe what happened after he had invited Mr Bubbins to his flat to have it out with him on January 9.

Paget told how the pair began to fight and after he mentioned the sex claim made by Mr Browning.

The defendant said: “He was almost sneering and he said, ‘He loved what we were doing. He told me he liked what we were doing. It was what he wanted’. I felt disgusted.” Paget then told how during the tussle he tied Mr Bubbins up with his own shoelaces and gagged him with a sock.

He said that after a few minutes he turned him over from his position of being face down to being on his back.

Paget told the court: “I could see he was dead. He wasn’t moving. When I realised he was dead. I covered his face with a pillow – I didn’t want to look at it.”

Mr Elias asked him: “Had you intended to kill him?” The defendant replied: “No.” His barrister then said: “Had you intended to stop him breathing?”

Paget answered: “I just wanted to shut him up.”

The defendant admits he then went to Mr Bubbins’ house in nearby Christchurch Road and ransacked it for valuables before selling them.

The jury heard from prosecutor James Wilson that Paget has a previous conviction for robbery and false imprisonment from 2000 during which he tied up his victim in a railway signal box and for 22 dishonesty offences.