Brian Waters death: Murder accused 'befriended gangster to sell story'

Television researcher Christopher Guest More Jr denies murdering Brian Waters

A television researcher, who is accused of murdering a man who was tortured at a farmhouse, befriended a "gangster" to sell his story, a court heard.

Brian Waters, 44, was killed at Burnt House Farm near Knutsford, Cheshire in June 2003.

Christopher Guest More Jr, 43, denies his murder.

He told Chester Crown Court he contacted John Wilson, who has been convicted of murdering Mr Waters, for "media research".

Mr More also denies conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and denies torturing another man, Suleman Razak.

Brian Waters sustained 123 injuries before he was killed at the farm on 19 June 2003, the court heard.

John Wilson and two other men, James Raven and Otis Matthews, were convicted of Mr Waters' murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to him and to Mr Razak following trials between 2004 and 2007, the jury was told.

'Hidden cameras'

Mr More said he had learned Wilson, who he described as "a big gangster in Manchester", was a police informant in 2002.

Asked why he took an offer from an acquaintance to see documents which he claimed confirmed Wilson was an informant, Mr More said: "It's a brilliant story. I could sell this story on to the media and they'd jump at it."

Mr More told the court he was approached by a production company working on a documentary about cannabis and he believed he could find a cannabis farm to film through Wilson.

The defendant said he had bought cocaine from Wilson as "part of media research" and Wilson had asked him to carry out surveillance on Mr Waters.

Mr More said: "He told me that he had been in business with somebody, that they had a deal gone wrong, this person owed him some money and that he wanted to steal cannabis equipment and set up, on his own, a grow."

He told the jury he had suggested the Burnt House Farm site to Wilson after following Mr Waters' son and was hoping to install hidden cameras inside.

Joel Bennathan QC, representing Mr More, told the jury his client accepted helping to steal the cannabis farm but he had "left the scene when he realised something else was happening", before the torture of Mr Razak and Mr Waters.

Mr More later flew to Spain, using a fake UK passport under the name of Andrew Lamb, the court heard.

He said he had carried out some business negotiations in Malta, including sending surveyors to Morocco after being invited by the country's royal family to work on Tangier port.

Prosecuting, Nigel Power QC, said Mr More had been deceiving people with "quite some style".

The trial continues.

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