Wellingborough man says he did not murder man found in ditch

Kamil Leszczynski previously worked in a shoe warehouse but had become a street drinker, the court heard

A man told a jury he did not kill a fellow Polish man who was found bound and gagged in a ditch.

The body of Kamil Leszczynski, 33, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was discovered on a farm between Carlton and Turvey in Bedfordshire on 1 July.

Lukasz Stachura, 40, who is on trial at Luton Crown Court, also said he did not have an argument with the victim before he was found dead.

The defendant, from Gold Street, Wellingborough, denies murder.

The court heard Mr Leszczynski fatally choked when a vest tied in a knot was thrust into his mouth.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC said DNA found on the vest used to gag Mr Leszczynski, whose wrists were also bound by a phone charging cable, came from the defendant.

Ms Marshall said Mr Leszczynski had been seen on CCTV in Wellingborough at 20:00 BST on 27 June and he made his last phone call at 20:18 that evening.

She said grasses and leaves from the area where the body was found were discovered in Mr Stachura's red Vauxhall Astra.

The prosecutor said CCTV from Emmaus Village Shop in Carlton also showed a car that matched the defendant's travelling along the road.

Kamil Leszczynski was found between Carlton and Turvey in Bedfordshire

Ms Marshall said on the day before the disappearance, the defendant and the victim were seen outside a shop in Wellingborough.

"[Mr Stachura] was seen to be violent and aggressive towards him," she said.

She also said the defendant had told a friend he did not like the victim.

Speaking via a translator, the defendant told the court: "We have never been together for so long to have an argument."

He said he only knew Mr Leszczynski by sight from when he worked as a delivery driver for a kebab shop.

"I saw him when I was delivering food and a few times I spoke to him," he said.

The father-of-two also told the court he never drove the victim in his car at the time he was last seen and that he had been drinking with a friend at the time.

The trial continues.