An alleged hitman would have to be "the Mike Yarwood of crime" to fit witness descriptions they had heard, a jury was told today.

David Croke, of Bolney Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, is accused of murdering landlord Mohammed Raja in 1999.

Croke, 60, is alleged to have carried out the contract killing with fellow heroin addict Robert Knapp for tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten.

Malcolm Swift QC, defending Croke, reminded the Old Bailey jury of a statement by Valerie Willcox, who picked Croke out of a police video line-up.

"Croke would really have had to be the Mike Yarwood of crime to turn himself from the driver seen by Mrs Willcox into either of the men seen setting fire to the van minutes later," he said.

"The make up alone would have taken all day. The man she saw driving the van was clearly disguised. He had a hat pulled down to his eyes. He was wearing glasses that did not fit.

"Mr Croke, in the video, was not disguised, so it seems Mrs Willcox was picking out an undisguised man who only looked like the driver because the driver was disguised.

"Perhaps at the end of the day the driver's disguise did make him look a bit like David Croke - but you have seen Rory Bremner and Alistair McGowan."

Croke and 54-year-old Knapp, from Eire, deny murdering Mr Raja at Sutton, Surrey on July 2, 1999.

Hoogstraten, 57, of High Cross Estate, Framfield, near Uckfield, denies murder and conspiracy to murder.

The trial continues.