A man accused of murdering his mother-in-law claimed he arrived home to find her body on fire, a jury was told.

Mohammed Soboh, 41, told police he struggled to force his way into the smoke-filled bungalow in Rottingdean to reach her burning body.

Soboh, who was previously married to Pauline Knowles-Samarraie, 72, believed she was still alive when he found her, sitting on the floor in the kitchen with her arms raised.

Soboh, now of New England Road, Brighton, denies murder at a trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The prosecution allege he battered Mrs Knowles-Samarraie over the head with a heavy metal lintel before pouring white spirit over her and setting her alight.

The court was told Soboh, his wife Nada, and their three children, lived with Mrs Knowles-Samarraie in the bungalow in Grand Crescent. Before marrying his wife, he was married to her mother for three years in the 1990s.

At 1.30pm on 22 April last year Soboh called 999 to report the fire. The body of Mrs Knowles-Samarraie was found burning in the kitchen by firefighters.

In a recorded interview with police after her death, which was shown to the jury, Soboh told how he went out that day to go shopping in Brighton leaving his mother-in-law alone in the house cooking lunch.

He said when he reached the bus stop he realised he had forgotten his mobile and returned home to collect it.

He said: “I heard a loud buzzing sound, it was the fire alarm. I tried to open the front door and it was closed. I could not see through the windows, it was black.”

He described how he tried to force his way in to the house at different windows and doors before eventually using a piece of wood to open a window.

He said: “The smell of smoke was unbelievable. It was just black.

“I wanted to see if I could see her. She was still moving.”

Soboh said he could not reach her body and called 999.

The court was told paramedics who arrived at the scene found Soboh suffering from smoke-inhalation and having trouble breathing. While in an ambulance being taken to hospital he was told by a police officer that Mrs Knowles-Samarraie had died.

Mrs Knowles-Samarraie, who was born in Yorkshire, married an Iraqi who became deputy old minister. But he fell foul of Saddam Hussein’s regime and he and the couple’s son, Mazin, were both killed.

She wrote about her life in a book, titled I Never Said Goodbye, published in 2007.

The jury spent yesterday afternoon on a visit to the village to see the bungalow and trace Soboh’s steps on the day of the murder.

The trial continues.