A man accused of murdering Brighton landlord Mohammed Raja vanished after being "stitched up" by a millionaire friend, the Old Bailey heard.

Robert Knapp told close friend and fellow drug user Doreen Dong he was going away and she never saw him again, the jury heard.

Knapp is accused with David Croke of stabbing and shooting Mr Raja to death, allegedly on the orders of property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten.

Yesterday the court was told Miss Dong and Knapp had known each another for more than ten years and regularly bought heroin together.

On the day of Mr Raja's murder, July 2, 1999, Knapp and Croke met Miss Dong at her home in Crayford, Kent, the jury was told.

She said they both smelt of burning and had freshly burnt skin.

The jury heard she and the two men immediately set off to south-east London to meet Miss Dong's heroin supplier.

They bought about £300 worth of heroin and later bought £100 worth of cocaine, the court was told.

Under cross-examination from Malcolm Swift QC, Miss Dong admitted the events with Croke and Knapp could have taken place on another day that summer and not necessarily on July 2.

Miss Dong said the last time she saw Knapp was in Crayford in April 2000.

She told the jury: "He said he would keep in contact with me. He said he was going away and had been right stitched up.

"His friend the millionaire had stitched him right up. I never heard from him after that."

Croke, 59, of Bolney Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton; Knapp, 53, of Convent Street, Abbeyfeale, County Limerick; and Hoogstraten, 57, of High Cross Estate, Framfield, all deny murder. Hoogstraten also denies conspiracy to murder.

The trial continues.