THE last sightings of a student allegedly murdered at a New Year’s Eve party have been shown in court.

Billy Henham was beaten unconscious, stripped naked and thrown off a balcony at a disused building in the middle of Brighton on January 1, 2020.

The 24-year-old, from Henfield, suffered 11 rib fractures, extensive bruising to his scalp, face and neck and a brain injury, all consistent with being punched, kicked and stamped on, a jury has heard.

He was also struck with a broken wooden stair spindle.

Gregory Hawley, 28, Dushane Meikle, 27, Lamech Gordon-Carew, 20, and 18-year-old Alize Spence are on trial accused of his murder.

CCTV footage shows Billy at a side door of Concorde 2 in Brighton.

Doorman Jim Andrews said he saw a “wobbly” Billy, and recalled how he believed his colleagues had thrown him out of the club.

In his statement to police, read to the jury at Maidstone Crown Court, Mr Andrews said Billy was not aggressive and had tried to cadge a cigarette while hanging around outside.

"He seemed happy enough, in a world of his own, jigging about to the drum and bass music and singing to himself," he said.

"He wasn't causing any harm and had a half smile on his face. He was in his own little world."

Mr Andrews said he was “mildly concerned” about Billy's welfare after he walked into the road in an inebriated state.

He also said Billy managed to sneak back into the club through the open side door, only to stumble over on to his hands.

The doorman said he took him back outside and told him he should go home. He maintained Billy was neither a threat nor aggressive.

The Argus: Billy Henham Billy Henham

The final sighting of Billy was at 4.30am in All Sorts off-licence in North Street, diagonally opposite the squat where the New Year's Eve party was being held.

The CCTV footage showed him briefly speaking to a man behind the counter before leaving and then loitering outside the shop for several minutes.

Within a couple of hours Billy lay dead, the court was told.

The jury heard there was no footage of him entering the disused building.

His body was discovered by police the following day on a recessed area of a roof terrace at the former office block, hotel and restaurant complex.

His body was dropped over balcony railings from a height of nearly 11ft and stripped of his clothes.

One of those squatting at the building told police he heard a man “screaming in pain”.

Forensic experts discovered disinfectant in Billy's hair while bloodstained areas where he had been beaten appeared to have been “diluted”, the court heard.

The jury was told that while his injuries would have rendered him unconscious, Billy would have been alive for at least an hour after the violent attack.

Gordon-Carew, Hawley and Spence were arrested at another squat in Brighton on January 3.

When Meikle was arrested in Hove six days later, police found two deleted photos on his phone of Billy’s body on the roof terrace.

A witness from the party told the court that Hawley claimed Billy had been killed by his three co-defendants for being “lairy and mouthy”.

Hawley is alleged to have told his mother's boyfriend Christopher Hobden that the killing was “a nasty one”, and described seeing him take his last breath.

Mr Hobden told the jury that Hawley was “in a bad space” when he saw him on January 2.

"He told me that earlier on New Year's Eve he saw the guy who had died having words with two youngsters who were 'dissing' him,” he said.

"He said 'I arrived to find the guy draw his final breath. What could I do?'.

“I said 'Did you phone an ambulance?' and he said 'Sorry Chris, no' and I got upset and left."

Billy, who studied at Ravensbourne University in London, had spent Christmas with his family but wanted to see in the new year in a “lively” atmosphere, the court heard.

He decided to leave his phone and wallet at home so as not to risk losing them but was believed to have written down one of his parents' numbers on a piece of paper.

His father, Ian Henham, drove him into Brighton but his offer to pick his son up was turned down.

Meikle, of Amberley Drive, Hove, Gordon-Carew, of Cheeseman Close, Hampton, Middlesex, Hawley, of no fixed address, and Spence, of Makepeace Road, Northolt, Middlesex, all deny murder.

The trial continues.