A DRUGS dealer was killed with an axe and his body sawn in half by his Worcester flatmate, a court has heard.

Michael Kelly died in his Tolladine home after a dispute over drugs money, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court heard from the prosecution on the first day of the trial of Gerald Edwards.

Nigel Rumpitt, prosecuting, said the 35-year-old, from Liverpool, was the victim of an "extremely brutal killing".

"Edwards killed Kelly, hitting him in the face with an axe and he cut the body in half with a saw," he said.

The prosecution claims 32-year-old Edwards, who denies murder, then enlisted the help of Ashley Shearon in cleaning up the bloodstained flat, in Teme Road, Tolladine, before the body was dumped in a copse at Grafton Lane, near Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.

Shearon has admitted perverting the course of justice, for which he is yet to be sentenced, and is expected to give evidence against both Edwards and Gary Wood, a 46-year-old, from Lowesmoor, also charged with perverting the course of justice by concealing evidence, which he denies.

Mr Rumpitt said both the car used to transport the dismembered body, and the flat in Teme Road, were set alight in a bid to destroy the evidence in a connected chain of events between June 30 and July 4 last year.

He told the jury that, although Kelly was involved with dangerous criminals from the Liverpool underworld in a drug trafficking operation between the cities, his death was not a professional killing.

"It was an unsophisticated and clumsy crime consistent with the actions of someone befuddled with drink and drugs," Mr Rumpitt said.

Kelly, he added, had lived in Worcester for about three months due to bail restrictions in which he had to report at Worcester police station frequently, following thefts from lorries in the county. He only returned to Liverpool to his partner and three children once a week to claim state benefits.

A farm worker made the grisly discovery of Kelly's body on Thursday, July 4.

"In a wooded area he found a human head covered in flies," said Mr Rumpitt. "The body was covered by a plastic sheet."

A post-mortem showed a gash in the centre of his face and three large wounds on the side of his head, as well as other head injuries.

Edwards is alleged to have borrowed the saw used on the body from neighbour Richard Boon, claiming it was for DIY.

Giving evidence, Mr Boon said he handed the saw over on Tuesday, July 2, the day Edwards was seen with Shearon cleaning the flat.

"He (Edwards) said the door was broken and he asked me to lend him a saw to cut up some wood," he said.

At a later date Mr Boon showed police the exact model of saw, which he had bought from Homebase on the Blackpole Trading Estate.

Forensic reports showed it was a replica of the saw used on Kelly.

The trial continues and is expected to last three weeks.