Attacker 'told friends he battered recluse, 47, with claw hammer, garrotted him and left him to die inside his burning caravan because he was a paedophile'

A 'reclusive' man who lived in a caravan was beaten with a claw hammer, garrotted and left for dead inside his burning mobile home by an attacker who later told friends the victim was a 'nonce', a court has heard.

Geoffrey Pearce, 47, was hit three times over the head with the weapon and left to asphyxiate with a cable tie pulled tight around his neck, Exeter Crown Court heard.

His killer Lewis Finch, 31, is alleged to have the set the caravan alight and walked away from the scene of the attack in the early hours of January 9 at a scrapyard in Newton Poppleford, Devon.

The court heard that after the incident, Finch told friends he had done it because Mr Pearce was a 'nonce'.

Geoffrey Pearce, 47, was hit three times over the head with a claw hammer and left to asphyxiate with a cable tie pulled tight around his neck in his caravan, Exeter Crown Court heard

Mr Pearce, who was described as a loner, lived an 'eccentric and hand to mouth and pretty grubby existence' at the scrapyard.

Sean Brunton QC, prosecuting, told jurors Finch knew the victim and the scrapyard well having been a regular visitor as a child.

The court heard that Finch arrived at the scrapyard in the early hours, probably by taxi.

'We cannot say precisely what Lewis Finch wanted or what was said between the two men. We cannot say precisely what happened or why it happened,' Mr Brunton said.

'We say about 2am, he attacked Mr Pearce with a heavy and hard object, like a claw hammer, and struck him at least three times to the head - twice to the top of the skull and once to the eye socket.

'He then placed a thick plastic cable tie around his neck and tightened it, choking and ultimately suffocating him.

'Then as Mr Pearce lay dying, probably as he had just expired, Mr Finch set fire to the caravan and incinerated his body.'

Mr Brunton said Finch then left scene and walked the eight miles across fields back to Exmouth after failing to persuade his sister to come and pick him up from the village.

His killer Lewis Finch, 31, is alleged to have the set the caravan alight and walked away from the scene in the early hours of January 9 at a scrapyard in Newton Poppleford, Devon. He denies murder but admitted manslaughter

During the first call, he told his sister: 'I think I've killed him.'

Finch then hung up and his sister rang back to speak to him again.

'Chillingly, during the second telephone call she could still hear the other man's voice - the voice of Geoff Pearce, his final words perhaps,' Mr Brunton said.

'She could hear him screaming words like, "Help me, help me". To her it sounded like he was dying.

'Shortly after that, her brother terminated the call and she could tell that something dreadful was happening.'

Finch's sister dialled 999 and told the police of her conversation with her brother.

Mr Brunton said: 'She told the police in that call that she could hear a man screaming and someone saying, "Somebody help please" and that her brother had said, "He's not dead yet but he's going to be".'

The prosecutor told the jury Finch had 'deliberately and very successfully' set fire to the caravan to ensure Mr Pearce was dead and to destroy evidence.

After returning to Exmouth, Finch went to a friend's house where he showered and attempted to wash his damp and bloodstained clothing.

Finch told a friend that he had seen Mr Pearce earlier in the day in a shop and told Mr Pearce not to speak to him and if he did, he would kill him.

'Later that evening, he had gone to Geoff Pearce's caravan and caved his head with a pickaxe or a claw hammer and had hit him in the head three times with it,' Mr Brunton said.

'In the end, because he wouldn't stay down, he put a cable tie around his neck and zipped it tight until he started turning blue in the face.

'He said Geoff was begging him and he just left him in the burning caravan and walked away.

'He said Lewis Finch said that he had done it because he was a nonce.

'In other words, he had deliberately killed Geoff Pearce because he knew, claimed or believed Geoff Pearce to be some sort of child abuser.'

Finch, formerly of Montpelier Road, Exmouth, denies murder but has admitted Mr Finch's manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility or loss of control.

The trial continues.