A man battered a pensioner to death, then continued visiting her house to steal antiques, a court heard today.

David Munley even forged a note in victim Jean Barnes' handwriting to her milkman in a bid to cover up her death, Lewes Crown Court was told.

Munley, 56, of Byron Road, Worthing, denies murdering Miss Barnes at her home in Tennyson Road, Worthing, in July last year.

Jeremy Gompertz QC, prosecuting, said: "He was living just around the corner from Miss Barnes, about 240 metres away.

"The prosecution says he had been stealing Ms Barnes' property over several months and that she must have caught him in the house and he killed her."

Munley was living with his former wife Judith, who is thought to be about 74.

Cambridge-educated Miss Barnes was described as a fiercely independent, eccentric and reclusive woman who lived in a "chaotic" house.

Mr Gompertz said: "In some way the defendant managed to gain entry to that house, and having entered on the first occasion he was able to do so many times thereafter.

"He visited each floor systematically to steal from Miss Barnes, selling antiques and other valuables to local dealers.

"What obviously happened is that on some occasion in the middle of July he was seen in the house by Miss Barnes, who confronted him, perhaps, and it was then that he battered her about the head until she died.

"Having killed her, he left the body where it lay and he continued to visit the house to steal from it."

Miss Barnes was hit on the head with a heavy object which had at least one sharp edge.

A post-mortem examination discovered she had tried to defend herself by attempting to ward off the fatal blows.

Her dressing gown was pulled tightly over her head and there was a blanket over her head, the jury heard.

Mr Gompertz said this might have been done so Munley would not have to see the body when he went back into the house.

He said DNA tests later revealed a tissue found in a room next to the body was splattered with Munley's blood.

When Munley was interviewed by the police he denied ever having been inside Miss Barnes' house.

But Mr Gompertz told the jury that the footprint of shoes recovered from Munley's flat had also been found on the lino in a room of the victim's house.

In the kitchen, police found a note signed by Miss Barnes and addressed to her milkman.

It asked for her order to be cancelled, saying she was about to go into hospital and then into a nursing home.

Mr Gompertz said tests by a handwriting expert revealed the note was actually written by Munley.

He said: "That note was part of the defendant's attempts to deflect attention away from Tennyson Road and prevent a discovery of Miss Barnes' body, until either he had thought of some way of disposing it or perhaps the body had decayed so much that police would be unable to identify how she died.

Munley is charged with murder, nine counts of burglary and five of forgery. He denies all the charges.

The trial continues.