A labourer suspected of killing two women told his boss he would "have to go down" for double murder.
Speaking before his arrest, Mark Brown told his manager that he was going away "for life".
Brown is currently on trial for the murders of Leah Ware, 33, and Alexandra Morgan, 34, who disappeared six months apart.
His ex-boss Alan Downs has now given evidence during the 41-year-old's trial at Hove Crown Court.
Mr Downs told the jury: “He said that he was going to be arrested for murder.
"Then there was a slight pause. Then he said ‘double, yeah, I’m going to have to go down, away for life or 25 for murder’.”
Leah was last seen by a friend in the early hours of May 6, 2021, while Alexandra was reported missing in November of the same year, with her burnt remains discovered soon after.
A court was told how Brown spoke to his boss before traces of her bones were found at the building site in Sevenoaks in Kent.
Mr Downs described his conversation with Brown, who was known to colleagues as Fishy because he used to deliver fish to markets in London.
He told the jury: “He actually said ‘I’m going to have to go down for this one for 25 years to life’.
“I said ‘f*** off Fishy, who did you murder then?’.
“He just said ‘I’d rather not say at this point in time’. I told him to f*** off again.
“I said ‘did you do it then?’ Again, he said the same thing ‘I’d rather not say at this point in time’.
“He said ‘I’ve got to take this one, I’ve got to go down for this one’.
“Then he also said ‘well, it depends on what they find at my yard’.
“I said ‘f*** off, go away, get back to work’.”
Police linked Alexandra, a single mother-of-two from Sissinghurst, Kent, to a farm Brown rented.
Officers then realised that mother-of-three Leah, who lived in a shipping container at Little Bridge Farm, near her home town of Hastings, was also missing.
Brown, of Squirrel Close, St Leonards, has already admitted he was present when Alexandra died and that he disposed of her body by fire.
He denies murdering both women.
The trial continues.
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