Accused ‘recited Lord’s Prayer as body burned’

Kenneth Bill, 63, said he decided to dispose of John Hay’s body after the 61-year-old former policeman died during a struggle between them at an industrial unit in Meltham, Huddersfield.

He had used a false name to set up the meeting to reveal details of his affair with Mr Hay’s wife Carol, but he denies murdering the Fenay Bridge builder, whom he claims died after falling backwards and banging his head.

Fearing he would be accused of murder, he told Bradford Crown Court he decided to put Mr Hay’s body into a builder’s bag which he then transported in a horse box to a field next to his home in Upper Hagg Road, Thongsbridge, Holmfirth.

He described dragging the body onto an area he had previously dug out to burn some garden rubbish and then set fire to wood and straw he put on top.

“All the time I was a bit like a zombie... all this was happening to somebody else and after a while I just felt like I had to do something so I knelt down and said the Lord’s Prayer, or what I know of it, it’s the only one I know.”

Bill received text messages from Mr Hay’s wife pleading to know what had happened to him, but he said she was accusing an innocent man. “I was in denial I suppose,” said Bill.

The trial continues.