A former bomb disposal expert whose body was not found for more than two years had been murdered in a garage in a dispute over an unpaid debt, a court has heard.

Colin Gale, 40, is alleged to have inflicted fatal blows on Mark Manning, 54, before enlisting Stewart Robertson to help dispose of his corpse in April 2014.

Prosecutors claim a row over a debt owed to Mr Manning ended with Gale deciding to "finish him off" at P&B Car Sales garage in Western Road, Lancing.

Mr Manning had worked for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a charity backed by Diana, Princess of Wales, which removes landmines and other hazards in some of the world's poorest countries.

His last deployment with MAG was to the Philippines to help in response to the devastating Typhoon Haiyan disaster, which claimed more than 5,000 lives, in February 2014.

Lewes Crown Court heard the body of Mr Manning was found after Robertson, 50, told police following his arrest in May 2016 that his corpse had been dumped on land at Hampshire Hill, near Slaugham.

Opening the Crown's case, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said his body was then recovered in a "bent position consistent with having been carried in that position".

Mr Atkinson said: "The prosecution case is that the blows that caused fractures to the facial skeleton and skull had been caused by Colin Gale, delivered at the P&B garage where blood evidence confirms an attack occurred and repeated blows using force occurred to finish him off. He then enlisted Stewart Robertson as a result to help with the disposal of the body."

Gale, of Offington Lane, Worthing, denies murder and has pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of Mr Manning's body, jurors have been told. Robertson, of St Aubyns Road, Portslade, denies preventing lawful burial.

The court heard that father-of-two Mr Manning had two mobile phones.

The last contact on one of them was a text message between him and Gale, sent at 11.34am on Saturday April 19 2014.

Mr Atkinson said: "By his own admission to police after Mr Manning had been reported missing, Mr Gale agreed that he had seen Mark Manning that Saturday morning, although his account of that meeting is substantially undermined by evidence you will hear."

Gale told police that, after meeting Mr Manning that morning, he dropped him off at Worthing railway station.

"There is no evidence that he did such a thing," Mr Atkinson said.

Footage from the station failed to show Mr Manning appear and cell site telephone analysis revealed that both men were pinpointed in the area of P&B Car Sales, he added.

Scientific evidence from the garage also revealed blood spots matching Mr Manning's DNA on the wall.

"The spots of blood had been caused by blood becoming airborne at that location", Mr Atkinson went on.

He added that Gale later told his former wife, Chloe Birchley, that he had "killed him" following a row over a debt Gale owed to Mr Manning which he could not repay.

The phones of Gale and Robertson had not been used for a "significant period of time" on April 20 2014, the court heard.

And Robertson's son had said Gale was "stressed" about the money owed to Mr Manning.

Gale was arrested and later charged with murder in January 2016 despite Mr Manning's body not being found.

Robertson was initially arrested in May 2015 and released without charge before going on to tell police he knew where the body was.

Mr Atkinson said Robertson did not reveal its location until he had been detained again in May 2016 when he was held on suspicion of preventing lawful burial.

The trial is due to last up to four weeks.