Murder accused 're-dressed alcoholic'

Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday that Ranjib Singh Bassra died at the hands of "domineering" 27-year-old Adrian Ray and fellow resident Kristian Harland, after he was subjected to a prolonged attack involving a variety of weapons including a pewter tankard, a broom and a metal pole.

The prosecution claims Mr Bassra, who was in poor health and severely emaciated, was also kicked and stamped on by Ray before his re-dressed body was placed in a sleeping position on a sofa in his own ground-floor flat.

At the time of his death in July last year Mr Bassra, 48, lived in a communal block of flats in Thornton Road, Bradford, which was used by a project providing housing for men with drug and alcohol problems. Harland, 29, lived in the same block on the first floor, while Ray, who was of no fixed abode, was said to have used the victim's flat and possessions as his own.

Ray accepted causing a minor injury to Mr Bassra when he punched him a few days before the killing, but denied carrying out any further assault.

Ray and Harland both deny charges of murder and doing acts tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice.

The trial is expected to last about three weeks.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the court: "In an effort to conceal their crime they cleaned up the blood-stained walls and floors of the scene, hid their weapons and their clothing and placed the deceased in fresh clothing in a sleeping pose to effect a staged discovery of him.

"The prosecution say Adrian Ray enjoyed a position of power in the relationship."

The jury heard Ray cried after the discovery of Mr Bassra's body and had the appearance of being a shocked relative.

But the day after Mr Bassra was found a tearful Harland told a manager at the project he had seen Ray hitting the deceased and had not done anything about it. The trial continues.