A 61-year-old accused of killing a part-time barman more than 40 years ago walked into a police station to confess to murder, a court has heard.
Anthony Bird, 42, was found dead at his flat in west London on 6 June 1980, naked and with his wrists bound, the Old Bailey heard. His death remained unsolved for 41 years, until John Paul allegedly told police he had “battered him” with a lump of wood.
John Price KC told the court at the opening of his trial on Monday how Paul had appeared at Hammersmith police station at 9.38am on 5 May last year. He spoke to a woman at the counter saying he had come to report a crime. Asked what crime, he allegedly replied: “Murder.”
The court heard Paul, of Maida Vale, west London, told the desk clerk he had killed a man in around 1980 but could not explain why. He has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bird between 3 and 6 June 1980 and an alternative offence of manslaughter.
When the 61-year-old appeared at the police station last year, he allegedly told a police officer: “He approached me and just spoke to me and just talked me into having sex with him.”
Giving details to the officer, Paul allegedly said of Bird: “He took me back to his place … I tied him with cord. I think the cord was black, I’m not sure. I tied him with a cord, his ankles, his hands, his arms, on the bed naked. There was a piece of wood … I used the piece of wood to batter him.”
By 11.34am, police inquiries had flagged up the unsolved case file on Bird’s murder as “worth a look”, the court was told. By 3.35pm, Paul was arrested on suspicion of the murder.
Price told jurors that Bird was gay and was known to pick up men for sex. He was last seen alive late on the night of 3 June 1980, in the Queensway area of west London.
After Bird failed to turn up for work at a pub, police were called to his one-bedroom flat, jurors heard. Officers used a sledgehammer to smash into the property and found that it appeared to have been “ransacked”, Price said.
The prosecutor told jurors: “The officers went into the bedroom. On the bed they found the lifeless body of Tony Bird. He was naked. He was lying on his side. His knees were tucked up and his legs were crossed.
“Black electrical flex was bound tightly around his left wrist and around his left ankle. There was the mark of a cord around his right wrist. There were numerous marks and apparent bruising on his body.”
The court was told two planks of wood were found at the scene.
Price told jurors that Paul’s fingerprints were taken and matched to evidence from the crime scene.
He said: “The main issue in the case will be whether when he killed Tony Bird, as it is submitted he undoubtedly did, John Paul intended to kill Mr Bird or at least to cause him really serious harm.”
