A man accused of murder told a jury yesterday (Tuesday) he had never seen or spoken to the victim.

Andrew Edwards described how on the night disabled Andrew Lammas was attacked near his home in Austin Road, Bromsgrove, he was recovering from a drinking session and falling asleep.

His life was blighted by alcohol abuse and drugs at the time and he had no settled address.

He waited for a bus to his sister Stephanie Hughes' home in Catshill, but, instead of getting it, teamed up with a friend in an unsuccessful attempt to sell a mountain bike.

Edwards eventually got a lift to his sister's in Wayne Goddard's car after they had called at a garage in Wychbold for milk and pop.

When he arrived he fell asleep on the sofa.

Mr Lammas, aged 44, died of brain injuries ten days after the attack on June 22 last year.

Edwards denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The 34-year-old, Goddard, 29, both of Austin Road, and Hughes, 24, of Oak Apple Road, Bromsgrove, deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by concocting a false abilbi.

Edwards and Ryan Irish, 19, of Humphrey Avenue, Bromsgrove, have been found not guilty of witness intimdation on the directions of the trial judge.

Patrick Thomas QC, for Edwards, told the jury there was no forensic evidence against the defendant.

He said the prosecution case rested solely on alleged admissions which could not be relied on. One was from a failed police informant and another from a disturbed prison inmate who believed he was a killer himself.

The QC said the Charford estate was "a hot-bed of gossip" and Edwards' clothing had made him the focus of gossip as a suspect.

He insisted that an alibi that he was "well away" from the Charford area at the time of the attack was true.

The trial continues.