Murder accused said 'I swear on stack of Bibles'

A jury at Leeds Crown Court has heard Desmond Lee claimed he accidentally killed Christopher Pratt, when he leant across him to reach for drugs while they were having sex, fracturing both the larynx and hyoid bone in his neck.

He also said in a defence statement he moved Mr Pratt's body from his flat in Sackville Street, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, to Scammonden Moor because he did not think he would be believed.

The court heard yesterday when Lee was initially arrested last August on suspicion of abducting Mr Pratt, before his body had been found, he told officers as far as he knew the 51-year-old civil servant had left to visit friends in Heckmondwike.

Det Con Dave Fullalove said when Lee was asked why Mr Pratt had never arrived there, he said: "I swear, I swear on a stack of 10 Bibles I do not know where Christopher Pratt is."

When he was arrested on suspicion of the older's man's murder after blood was found in the boot of Mr Pratt's car, Lee continued to insist Mr Pratt was fit and well when he last saw him.

Lee, 39 denies the murder of Mr Pratt from Grantham, Lincolnshire.

The jury also heard yesterday that Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1990 for murdering his landlady. The trial continues.