William Algar: Trumpeter 'dismembered with Rambo knife'

An accused killer has told a court how the body of a talented musician came to be chopped up with a "Rambo knife" at a flat in west London.

The 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering musician William Algar and another man, Ebrima Cham, in December 2019.

He described how the corpse of Mr Algar, 53, was dismembered and his limbs disposed of on Hounslow Heath.

He said it was his co-accused who killed and dismembered Mr Algar.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, the teenager said fellow drug-dealer Simon Emmons, 40, murdered Mr Algar, and asked him to help clean up the victim's flat in Barnes and hide his remains.

Mr Emmons, of no fixed address, denies the murder of Mr Cham, and perverting the course of justice by disposing of Mr Algar's limbs.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC asked the defendant: "Emmons had already been considering throwing the body in the river, dissolving it in acid and in the end it came to be chopped up?". "Yes," replied the teenager.

Mr Aylett told the court that Mr Emmons had made internet searches on the subject, "Can acid dissolve a body?". He then asked the teenager: "Have you seen Breaking Bad?"

The defendant said he had not.

"Have you heard about it?," he was asked by the prosecutor. "You know it's about drug dealers?"

The teenager replied he did not know that but that he had "heard it's a good show".

"There's a scene where two of the characters try to dissolve a body in the bath? That never came up?" asked the prosecutor. "No," said the defendant.

He told the court that he had been "pressured" to visit the crime scene and that he thought he would just be cleaning up.

Another defendant, Zimele Dube, 33, of Hounslow, is also accused of murdering Mr Cham, which he denies.

Janayo Lucima, 19, denies perverting the course of justice in relation to the disposal of Mr Agar's body, while Marc Harding, 45, has pleaded guilty to the same charge.

The trial continues.