Man 'killed stranger with baseball bat'

A SALESMAN killed a stranger with a baseball bat - then days later used it in a park game with friends, an Old Bailey court was told yesterday.

Martin Heslop, for the prosecution, said that Mark Paul, 20, had been out drinking with his flatmate Andrew Christie and returned home only to go out again, 'looking, as Paul was later to tell police, for trouble'.

The men allegedly armed themselves with the baseball bat which Mr Christie carried hidden up his sleeve, jurors were told.

In Battersea High Street, south London, they spotted John Lavender, 28, an Oxford graduate who was returning to his home after a meal with a friend.

'They didn't know him, it seems they had never set eyes on him,' Mr Heslop said.

Mr Lavender, an insurance agent who was studying for a masters degree, turned into an alley and the pair followed, the court was told. 'Paul grabbed the bat from Christie and ran up behind Mr Lavender and delivered a two- handed, running, single blow to the back of his unprotected head. Mr Lavender probably never knew what hit him,' Mr Heslop said.

The two then ran off and Mr Lavender was found slumped on the ground by a group of youths.

By the time police arrived he was unconscious and despite emergency surgery died 12 hours later from severe brain injury, the jury was told.

Mr Paul, of Battersea, denies murdering Mr Lavender in September last year.

The court was told that Mr Paul, who had hidden the bat at his home, used it to play baseball with friends in Battersea Park a few days after the killing.

He was arrested and 'immediately lied', but then admitted hitting Mr Lavender but was 'completely unable to give an explanation why', Mr Heslop said.

The jury was shown the 3ft long wooden baseball bat.

The court heard that in taped interviews Mr Paul admitted smoking cannabis and drinking lager on the evening of the alleged attack. It was alleged he wept as he told police: 'I can't even explain why I did it.

'I didn't realise the seriousness of it. I was confused. I thought it was just a little tap on the head, I thought it would be all right.'

The trial was adjourned until today.