THE man accused of murdering bomb disposal expert Mark Manning wept in court as he told how he bludgeoned him to death.

Colin Gale said he hit the 54-year-old two or three times with a metre-long industrial wrench after Mr Manning came at him with an axe.

Arguing he had acted in self defence, Gale, 40, said: “He was just raging...I was terrified I would get the axe in me.”

Gale, of Offington Lane, Worthing, is accused of murdering Mr Manning at the garage he ran, P&B Car Sales in Western Road, Worthing, on April 19, 2014.

Speaking from the witness box, he said Mr Manning had confronted him over £17,000 he owed him from the sale of two cars.

Gale said he told him he could not pay right away before making a “sarcastic” comment.

He said Mr Manning did not take the joke well and came at him with an axe in his hand.

“I couldn’t tell you the words he used. I happened so quickly. He was swinging the axe towards me and I said ‘Mark, what are you doing?’

“I didn’t know he was being serious until he started swinging the axe.”

Gale said he was forced back against the wall at which point he grabbed a one-metre tall industrial wrench to defend himself.

“I started swinging in his direction,” he said, “really to keep him away from me.”

He told the jury he called out for help, shouting the name of Stewart Robertson, who he said was next door.

Wiping tears from his eyes, he said: “That’s when I hit him full on in the face. Then it just went out of control.

“I was surprised he didn’t fall, it just knocked him back.”

Gale said the blow to the face only appeared to enrage Mr Manning, adding: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like poking a bull. He was intent on hitting me with the axe.

“I was even more terrified I would get the axe in me one way or another so I just swung out.”

Gale said after hitting him one or two more times Mr Manning collapsed on the workshop floor.

He said it was at this point Robertson came in and asked what had happened.

He told the jury: “I didn’t know what to do.

“I knew if I called the police I would go to prison there and then.”

He said he pleaded with Robertson to give him time to think and locked up the garage before heading home to see his children.

He claims to have thrown Mr Manning’s phone down a drain to cover his tracks and he also said he got rid of the two weapons.

The next morning he met with Robertson to get rid of the body, he claims.

He said they loaded the body into the back of a Transit van and toured the nearby countryside for a place to dump Mr Manning.

For more than two hours they tried to find a quiet spot but kept coming across dog walkers, he told the jury.

Then, he said, they came across an opening in a hedgerow at Hampshire Hill near Slaugham and dumped him before driving back to the workshop to clean the blood.

Gale denies murder but has admitted preventing lawful burial. Robertson, of St Aubyns Road, Portslade, denies preventing lawful burial.

The trial continues.