A MAN “murdered and dismembered” his father in a row over money before placing his head inside a filing cabinet, a court heard today.

Prosecutors allege that Nathan Robinson, 26, used a Stanley knife, a saw and a hacksaw to kill and butcher Poole taxi driver William Spiller.

The 48-year-old’s remains were discovered at his home in Southbourne on June 17 last year packed into stacked plastic storage boxes that had a television placed on top.

Police believe that Mr Spiller was killed on May 16 and it is alleged that Robinson then began a series of trips around the country, visiting friends on a pre-arranged trip to Glasgow and then staying with his mother in the West Midlands.

In the month before police discovered the remains, prosecutors say Robinson used his father’s phone to text the deceased’s partner, Glenys Molyneaux, as well as a close friend in Worcestershire, who was dying of cancer.

In messages to Ms Molyneaux, prosecutors say that Robinson – posing as his father – used nicknames including ‘Glen girl’ and told her: “I love you”.

Prosecutor Nigel Lickley QC told jurors Robinson killed his father because of “money issues”, adding that an IOU in Robinson’s handwriting to his father for £36,000, dated from June 2011, was discovered in the flat.

He also alleged that the defendant took at least £7,750 in cash belonging to his father to spend.

The court was played calls to the police from neighbour David Kiff, who said: “About two weeks ago they [Mr Spiller and his son] had a fight or scuffle up there [in the flat above].

“I heard the older gent shout out, ‘Get me an ambulance, get me an ambulance’. Since that time I haven’t seen the son or the father. The son was doing something in the bathroom which flooded, and flooded my bathroom [too]. I’ve got pink down my wall and it looks like a trickle of blood in the corner by the bath.”

Mr Lickley said the substance was Mr Spiller’s blood, diluted as Robinson cleaned up the crime scene with a floor and steam cleaner he had bought at Homebase after he killed his father.

Mr Kiff also contacted Dave Wells properties, and a member of staff let himself into the flat when Robinson was away, but said there was no obvious sign of disturbance.

After returning to the office he commented on an “overpowering smell” and told a colleague that the smell made him think “someone had died in the bedroom”.

When arrested by police on June 18 last year, the defendant said: “Is this a joke?”

It is believed that he may have spent the night in the flat with his father’s remains after returning from Glasgow.

Mr Lickley said Robinson admitted killing his father and dismembering his body but denied his murder. He told the jury: “There is no issue between the prosecution and defence that, first, the defendant did kill his father; second, cut up his body into parts and placed them piece by piece into plastic storage boxes; or, third, he took the sums of money. “The issue for you to resolve centres on was the defendant’s responsibility at the time of the killing diminished by virtue of an abnormality of mental function so as to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter?” He said that psychologists being called as expert witnesses by the prosecution and the defence disagreed as to the defendant’s mental health. The trial continues.