Andrei-Mihai Simion-Munteanu denies Branston murders

The bodies of Premm Monti and Robert Tully were discovered at a house in Branston in August

A student strangled his mother and killed her American partner with a hammer before driving around the UK for several days, a murder trial heard.

Dr Premm Monti, 51, and Robert Tully, 71, were discovered dead at the family home in Lincoln Road, Branston, in August last year.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Andrei-Mihai Simion-Munteanu killed them before driving Mr Tully's car to Salisbury.

He then drove to Stonehenge and Tintagel Castle.

Later he travelled to Wales and then on to Scotland where he was found.

The 22-year-old, of Lincoln Road, Branston, denies two charges of murder between 28 and 29 July 2019.

'Diminished responsibility'

Dr Monti was reported missing after she failed to turn up for work at a psychiatric clinic in Dudley, West Midlands.

Efforts to trace Mr Tully were also unsuccessful, until police tracked his missing Toyota Rav to Aberdeen airport, where Mr Simion-Munteanu was found lying down inside.

Michael Auty, prosecuting, said: "The defendant immediately volunteered that he had killed his mother."

The court heard he placed an oven glove over her mouth and strangled her in her bedroom.

The following morning when Mr Tully woke, the defendant lured him into the kitchen and repeatedly hit him with a hammer, fracturing his skull, Mr Auty said.

The bodies of the couple were found at the Branston bungalow when police returned on 5 August 2019.

Mr Simion-Munteanu admits killing his mother and her partner but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The jury was told the defendant, who had failed his final exams at the University of Lincoln where he was studying computer studies, had been diagnosed with depression and had previously spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

The trial continues.

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