A BINMAN said he panicked and went on the run three days after bludgeoning his partner to death during a lockdown row.

Wayne Morris, 47, has admitted he killed Ruth Brown, 52, when the first national Coronavirus lockdown meant he could not storm out from her home in Bognor.

He told a jury he admits responsibility for her death despite having no recollection of attacking his partner of six years with a plastic tray.

The pair had been drinking heavily and argued in her kitchen at the property in Collyer Avenue.

Expert evidence showed the petite former barmaid had been struck at least four times.

Her two skull fractures were consistent with being hit by the broken plastic tray found at the house.

Ruth Brown was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and was very concerned about contracting coronavirus.

Morris moved in with Ruth Brown on April 1.

The court heard, the pair had been pottering and drinking in her back garden until around 4pm on April 8 last year.

Neighbour Martin Connelly said he heard a series of loud bangs around 8pm on the Wednesday evening.

Asked why he did not call police or ambulance when he found her body the next morning in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, Mr Morris said he panicked.

Her head was on a pillow and her skull was fractured in two places, the court heard.

“My first thought was ‘s***, what have I done? and I panicked,” Morris said.

Philip Bennetts QC for the Crown asked him: “And by that you mean is there something I can do to get away with this?”

“That wasn’t the intention at all,” Morris said.

“But you are clearing up,” Mr Bennetts said. “What’s the purpose of clearing up?”

Morris said: “To me, it was out of sight out of mind. It’s not an easy thing to deal with.”

The jury have been told he admits moving Ruth Brown, originally from Edinburgh, upstairs to the bedroom and leaving her there while he carried on drinking and smoking cannabis.

Later in the day he ordered a takeaway meal to be delivered to the house.

He decided to go on the run on Saturday after sending a series of harrowing text messages to his daughter Skye and Ruth’s daughter Lauren.

He was arrested the following morning, April 12, on the Isle of Wight.

“Your concern for yourself, the consequences of what you did, was the reason why you went away for as long as you could,” Mr Bennetts asked him.

“Are you still trying to avoid the consequences of what you did?”

Morris said: “No.”

Wayne Morris, of Larch Close, Bognor, denies murder.

The trial at Brighton Crown Court continues.