The son of an alleged hitman was unaware of his father's heroin addiction, the Mohammed Raja murder trial has been told.

James "Jim" Croke had been called to give evidence for his father David, who is accused of murdering landlord Mr Raja.

It is alleged that he and another man, Robert Knapp, carried out the killing at the request of Sussex multi-millionaire Nicholas van Hoogstraten.

Asked by Tom Kark, prosecuting, if he knew of his father's addiction, he replied: "I do not know anything about a heroin addiction.

"I was concerned at one point my dad may be taking drugs but I had no evidence."

He said in the summer of 1999, when Mr Raja was killed by two hitmen, his father reported feeling ill, adding: "I thought it was because he had a hernia or problems with acid in his stomach.

"I did ask him if he was taking drugs and he said 'no'. Whether he was I don't know, but he denied it to me, his son."

Mr Kark asked if Jim Croke spoke with his stepmother Rita after his father's arrest for murder.

He replied that he thought not. He said he did not get on with her.

Earlier, Malcolm Swift, representing Croke, of Bolney Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, asked Jim about a payment for £1,500 made to his father in June 1999 shortly before Mr Raja's death.

Jim Croke said this was some inheritance money passed to him, cash for odd jobs his father had done and some extra money because his father was short.

Croke and Robert Knapp are accused of murdering 62-year-old Mr Raja on July 2 1999 at Sutton, Surrey, at Hoogstraten's request.

Hoogstraten, of High Cross Estate, Framfield, near Uckfield, denies murder and conspiracy to murder. Croke and Knapp, 53, of County Limerick, deny murder.

The trial continues.