A rent boy who allegedly murdered his lover fled the scene because he feared deportation to South Africa where a "fatwa" has been issued against him, a court heard.
Ricardo Pisano said controversial vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) had ordered his death because he was considered "troublesome or a threat", jurors heard.
The 36-year-old is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of murdering former Croydon man Michael Polding at his flat in Brighton, after allegedly bleeding him dry financially.
The badly decomposed body of the 62-year-old was found by police neatly positioned and wrapped up in bedding, in his flat on July 16 last year.
He had died nearly two months earlier from a blunt force trauma to his chest.
The pair met in December 2009 after Mr Pisano advertised himself as a rent boy in a gay magazine.
Following the death Mr Pisano went on the run for nearly a year until he was arrested at a house in Southampton under a different name, the court heard.
In police interviews Mr Pisano, dubbed the Artful Dodger after escaping from a New Zealand jail, said he had returned to Mr Polding's flat to find him hanged.
He told officers he feared for his life after discovering Mr Polding's body, telling them: "If I'm deported to South Africa, I will be dead in a week. I fear that any of my family members will be shot."
Mr Pisano, who denies murder and causing grievous bodily harm but has admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body, claimed Pagad was responsible for numerous killings of people deemed a "nuisance to society" and he had become a target after setting up a successful business.
Explaining the fatwa, Mr Pisano said: "They want you dead in the name of their god."
He said following the issuing of the fatwa he left South Africa and ended up in a number of countries including New Zealand and the United States. After six months in New Zealand he went to Fiji before returning to New Zealand again.
Asked why he had become the focus of a death threat in South Africa, he added: "Being someone they felt was troublesome or a threat, they killed.
"I was particularly successful in my young days. I had a pool shop- they sent petitions round to get me closed."
The case continues.
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