Stuart Crawford claims he did not know how to check his friend Michael Ryan was still alive after he had hit him repeatedly on the head.

The Old Bailey is hearing the trial of the tenant who is accused of beating his landlord to death before hiding the body in a roll of carpet and fleeing to Thailand has begun.

The court heard from the 45-year-old defendant how he may have thrown away the weapon which killed his landlord.

Mr Crawford, who denies murder, said he had "never hurt anyone in his life".

The jury heard from prosecutor Phillip Bennetts how Mr Crawford had in fact attacked his ex-wife Michelle Blackman.

Mr Crawford told the jury it was not true, and that his ex-wife was trying to stop him seeing his daughter.

When asked by the prosecution how he could leave his friend dying on the floor, Mr Crawford replied: "It was terrible I know. It makes me a very callous person, but it doesn't make me a murderer."

Mr Crawford, of no fixed abode, denied knowing about the £100,000 in Michael Ryan's bank account.

He told the jury he did not know Mr Ryan had any money as "he was always very frugal".

Despite someone in his name accessing Sutton Library's computers on the morning of Mr Ryan's death, September 2, Mr Crawford told the jury "there must have been some mistake."

In the afternoon of September 2, Mr Crawford then admitted transferring £6,500 into his own account at Sutton Library.

Mr Crawford claimed the transfer of money into a bank account in his name, made him a "stupid" not a "calculating" person.

He told the jury how he contacted the Sutton Guardian as he wanted to tell his side of the story but denied confessing to murder.

He said: "I was confessing to what had happened. It was never about money. What I had read about is that I had murdered someone and I knew I hadn't."

In March 2010, the assistant editor of this newspaper was offered information on "the brutal murder of Michael Ryan" by Stuart Crawford in exchange for £20,000.

Prosecutor Phillip Bennetts told the jury Stuart Crawford had murdered his friend in order to obtain money, to which Crawford replied: "that's preposterous."

Mr Crawford denies murder. The trial continues.