Two men accused of murdering a gay alcoholic admitted the killing to an acquaintance, a jury has been told.

Alex Kerr, an acquaintance of the pair, told Lewes Crown Court he was sitting with a group of friends in a shelter on Brighton seafront when the two men confessed.

Richard Price, 24, of Denmark Terrace, Brighton, and Richard Sumner, 35, of Grand Parade, Brighton, both deny murdering William Carmichael, 64, in November last year.

Mr Carmichael, an eccentric known as Billy, was found in his blood-splattered flat in Lower Rock Gardens, Brighton.

Mr Kerr told the jury Price and Sumner were both bloodstained when they joined the group in the shelter.

He said: "We were having a quiet drink, the lads and I, and Richard and Ricky (Sumner) came up and told us they had killed a man.

"They were covered in blood. They said, 'We have killed a man. We have got to leave town'. They said they splattered him. There was blood on the walls and everywhere."

Mr Kerr said he was unsure if the men were telling the truth and thought they may have been in a fight. He did not know about the murder until the next day.

During cross-examination by James Turner QC, representing Price, Mr Kerr denied getting his evidence confused.

Earlier, the court heard Sumner was arrested the afternoon after the murder in a Brighton street. Price left the city the same day and was arrested 11 days later in London.

The trial continues.