A teenager went in-line skating with his friends hours after allegedly murdering an elderly cleric in his bath.

Christopher Hunnisett, 18, left the Reverend Ronald Glazebrook's body submerged in the bath while he went skating about 15 miles away.

Lewes Crown Court heard how Hunnisett, then 17, held Mr Glazebrook down in his bath at the flat they shared in Dane Road, St Leonards.

It followed a row two days earlier, after Mr Glazebrook, 81, walked into Hunnisett's room to find an uninvited friend there late at night.

The following day, Thursday April 26 last year, the divorced cleric wrote a letter, addressed but not sent to Hunnisett's parents, saying he wanted him out of his flat.

The Crown alleges Hunnisett, formerly of Coventry Road, St Leonards, drowned the vicar amid fears he would be evicted from the flat.

On April 28, the day after Mr Glazebrook was allegedly murdered, Hunnisett was woken by a caller at the flat - a prospective home help for Mr Glazebrook.

After telling him to return later, Hunnisett, dressed only in his boxer shorts, said he walked into the bathroom and found Mr Glazebrook's naked dead body in the bath.

Under cross-examination from Philip Katz, Hunnisett said he did not dial 999 for fear that he would be implicated for murder.

He said: "I thought the police would assume and just arrest me."

After leaving the body in the bath, Hunnisett caught a train from Warrior Square station to Hampden Park, Eastbourne, where he met his friend Jason Groves, also 18, to go skating.

The jury heard how Hunnisett told Groves of the death by saying: "The old man has drowned", before both returned to the flat to plan how to dispose of the body.

Hunnisett said the only way was to dismember it, after a plan to dump it at sea was aborted.

Hunnisett admitted to hiding Mr Glazebrook's credit cards in books around the flat to make it look like he had gone missing.

He also admitted to concocting a "fairy tale" story about the reverend's death in an effort, according to Mr Katz, to appear insane.

Hunnisett denies murder. He and Groves admit conspiring to prevent the lawful burial of Mr Glazebrook's body.

The case continues.