A MAN charged with burglary and conspiracy to burgle the Landford home of a pensioner found beaten to death in September has said he had no idea what happened and was “devastated” to be arrested.

John Wayne Wilkinson, 40, of Ford Lane, Ferndown, told Winchester Crown Court he had done legitimate work at the home of 75-year-old Reginald Baker in Landford near Salisbury but had nothing to do with burglaries on July 30 or September 5.

He said he had no knowledge of Mr Baker’s death, or the events leading up to it, at the time of his arrest on the evening of September 5.

He said: “I was devastated. I had no idea a murder had taken place or that I would be impacted. I just couldn’t believe what had happened.”

The jury heard Wilkinson had done some work in the pensioner’s garden about 14 months before a burglary on July 30, along with fellow defendant Joby Barney, 25, who is accused of murder.

He said it was Barney’s idea to go back there on July 30 and that he had no idea where they were heading when they left another job earlier that day.

The court has been told Mr Baker paid £500 for work done by the men but later found £2,300 was missing from his bedroom.

Wilkinson said he did not go into the bedroom and when he left the house to pack up his tools Barney was still inside.

Jane Miller, defending Barney, said she did not accept Barney was the prime mover on that day. “This is your business Mr Wilkinson, “she said, “you are the organiser, you are the mover and shaker, you are the person who organised this job and took the money for it.”

Asked to explain a £700 deposit made into his bank account shortly after the burglary, Wilkinson produced a receipt from the sale of a car on July 16.

The jury was told several phone calls were made between Wilkinson and Barney on the day Mr Baker was killed but Wilkinson maintains the calls were about some money Barney owed him.

Wilkinson denies conspiracy to burgle on September 5 and burglary on July 30.

Joby Barney, 25 of Ringwood Road Alderholt, and John James, 19, of London Road, Salisbury admit conspiracy to burgle but both deny murder.

Two other men, Daniel Coker, 23, of London Road, and 19-year-old Trevor Gray, of The Friary, Salisbury, have both admitted manslaughter and conspiracy to burgle. They have been remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.

The trial of the three other defendants continues.