A MAN accused of beating his friend to death in a row over a debt told his ex-wife “I did it”, a court was told.

Colin Gale confessed to being involved in the death of his friend, the bomb disposal expert Mark Manning, 54, of Lancing a court heard yesterday.

Mr Manning, 54, disappeared on April 19, 2014 and was missing for two years before his body was found near Slaugham in Mid Sussex.

Gale, 40, of Worthing, told police that he had dropped Mark Manning at Worthing station on April 19, but had in fact killed his friend at the garage he ran P and B Motors, a jury trying him for murder was told yesterday.

Duncan Atkinson QC prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court said Gale had confessed to his ex-wife Chloe Birchley(CORR) during a family holiday to Camber Sands in May 2014, saying the scene was “disgusting” and had left him unable to sleep. He also said that he and Stewart Robertson had disposed of his body the following morning.

Opening the case at Lewes Crown Court yesterday Mr Atkinson said: “Although Colin Gale told police and Mark’s son Kane Manning at the time that he had not seen Mark since he dropped him off at Worthing station he gave a very different account to his former wife Chloe Birchley.

“He told her he killed him.

"He said Mark was not too happy because he was unable to repay money he had borrowed.

"During an argument he had gone for him and struck mark over the head.

”He realised once he had started he had to finish the job so he killed him.”

Footage from Worthing station disputed Gale’s version of events as Mr Manning could not be seen and cell site telephone analysis revealed that both men were pinpointed in the area of Gale's business P&B Car Sales, in Western road, Lancing.

A number of text messages were also exchanged between Mr Manning and Gale on the morning on April 19, 2014, but both his mobile phones went dead by around lunchtime that day the jury was told.

"That was the day that Mark Manning not only ceased to use his phones and contact his family, but also ceased to be alive," said Mr Atkinson.

Mr Manning's blood was later found at the garage, the court was told.

Mr Manning’s body was found in May 2016 dumped on land at Hampshire Hill, near Slaugham.

Mr Atkinson said Gale told Ms Birchley the pair had rowed at the garage and Mr Manning had “come at him with something, so he grabbed it off him and hit him over the head with it.

When Ms Birchley suggested it sounded like self defence he replied: “No not really. He was alive, but I thought to myself he’s the sort of bloke if you did something to he would come back and get me.

“I had to finish him off or he would come back and get me.

“I hit him a couple more times. It was disgusting. He was gurgling. Stewart Robertson was there and he was screaming.”

Mr Atkinson said Gale then said that he and Robertson had disposed of his body the following morning.

Gale, of Offington Lane, Worthing, denies murder but has admitted preventing the lawful burial of Mr Manning's body. Robertson, 50 of St Aubyns Road, Portslade, denies preventing lawful burial.

The trial continues.