A journalist who befriended waifs and strays was brutally killed by a young man he tried to help.

Jonathan Kendrick, 56, suffered horrific injuries when he was repeatedly attacked with a hammer and a screwdriver at his home in Waterloo Street, Hove.

Police believe the weapons were used to inflict more than 40 blows to Mr Kendrick's head and face.

His friend, Lee Bamber, denied murdering Mr Kendrick but admitted manslaughter when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court.

The court heard the Crown was prepared to accept Bamber's plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility after considering medical reports.

Doctors diagnosed Bamber, 23, who suffers from schizophrenia and learning difficulties, as having a severe psychotic disorder at the time of the killing in October last year.

Judge Richard Brown will sentence Bamber today.

Flanked by five jailers in the dock, Bamber, of Dorset Gardens, Brighton, showed no emotion as the sickening details of Mr Kendrick's death were outlined to the court.

Paul Lewis QC, prosecuting, told the court how the motive for Mr Kendrick's killing was money.

Mr Kendrick was a freelance journalist who had worked for the BBC in Southampton and as a lecturer in media studies at Highbury College, Portsmouth.

He had also been the chairman of the Brighton and Mid Sussex branch of the National Union of Journalists.

He was described by his family as a kind man who liked to help waifs and strays and it was in this way he met Bamber in 2002 after seeing him crying in a bus shelter.

Mr Kendrick was a homosexual and the two men at one time had a sexual relationship.

It was said the older man had a protective and caring attitude to Bamber, who has previous criminal convictions including robbery and firearms offences.

In the autumn of last year Bamber had been pestering Mr Kendrick for money.

The day before the killing Bamber rowed with his girlfriend over money and the following day she rang to tell him their relationship was over.

On the evening of the killing, October 10, Bamber went out to see Mr Kendrick, who had £8,000 in a building society account.

Later that evening Bamber rang a friend in a panic and confessed: "I have murdered somebody."

He asked his friend to meet him but instead the police were alerted and he was arrested.

Bamber later gave officers a graphic description of how he had killed Mr Kendrick with the hammer and screwdriver.