Tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's solicitor faxed the multi-millionaire to tell him his rival had died, a jury heard today.

But Hoogstraten told the Old Bailey he never received the fax and did not discover Mohammed Raja had been murdered until he returned from a trip to Zimbabwe.

The jury was told by his solicitor Marios Minaides he had faxed the property magnate on July 6, 1999.

Hoogstraten is accused of hiring two men to murder Mr Raja, shot and stabbed to death at his home in Sutton, Surrey, on July 2.

But Hoogstraten said: "I know for a fact I did not receive it.

"I would raise doubts as to whether it was even sent, simply because it starts off 'I enclose correspondence ' and talks about enclosures as well. You do not send enclosures with a fax, you send attachments or whatever."

Hoogstraten said even if it was sent to his office at the Courtland Hotel, Hove, it could have been misplaced.

He said: "It happens not infrequently that important faxes come to me from the United States, from Zimbabwe, from South Africa and they arrive at the Courtlands and get lost.

"They either come at night because of the time differences and the night porter puts them somewhere, or a relief receptionist is on.

"From time to time and not infrequently, important faxes do not get to me."

Hoogstraten, of High Cross Estate, Framfield, near Heathfield, denies murder and conspiracy to murder. David Croke, 59, of Bolney Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, and Robert Knapp, 53, of County Limerick, deny murder.

The trial continues.