A MAN accused of murdering his flat mate at their Boscombe home hoped to “get away with murder”, a court heard on Monday.

Simon Jones for the prosecution accused “squirming” Benjamin Henry Walter, 22, of lying about his involvement in an attack on Geoffrey Reed, 57, before his death in their Cecil Road flat in June last year.

However, Walter said he would: “never in a million years” cause harm to the victim, who suffered 28 fractures to his ribs, a broken neck and a fracture to the skull prior to his death.

Walter told the court that he returned to the bathroom on multiple occasions when Mr Reed was attacked by co-accused Stuart Raymond Wareham, 26.

However, Mr Jones said Walter knew the bathroom was the only place he could have been to avoid seeing any assault on Mr Reed, and added: “The bathroom is the place you can get away with murder, isn’t it?”

Mr Jones also accused Walter of “sitting there squirming giving evidence because you’re lying.”

The court also heard from Southbourne resident John Nixon, who owns a number of estate agents’ in the Bournemouth area and self-funds a soup kitchen.

Walter briefly moved into Mr Nixon’s home when the defendant was going out with his daughter, Katie, after meeting him at the soup kitchen.

Mr Nixon called Walter “kind and thoughtful” and said: “There is no way I would be here today if I thought he was capable of extreme violence.”

Walter, Stuart Wareham and Lee Wareham, 33, who will not be giving evidence, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Reed between June 6 and June 14 last year.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court continues.