A mentally ill man was seen acting strangely just yards from Billie-Jo Jenkins' home at the time she was killed, the Old Bailey heard.

The 13-year-old schoolgirl was battered to death with an iron spike as she painted the patio doors at the house in Hastings.

Her foster father, former deputy headteacher Sion Jenkins, denies murdering her in a fit of temper.

Yesterday his defence called witnesses who claim they saw a man behaving bizarrely in the area at the time of Billie-Jo's death on February 15, 1997.

Brian Kent told jurors a mentally ill man with a mark on his face had called at his guesthouse in the same road, Lower Park Road.

The B&B owner said: "The conversation was rather confused in that he was asking all sorts of strange questions about whether ferries went from Hastings to France.

"He was then questioning the rating of my guesthouse and asking all sorts of questions about that.

"He was carrying a Safeway shopping bag with a French stick sticking out of the top."

Mr Kent said he later identified the man in a police cell where he was still acting strangely.

He told the court: "He was either sat or on all fours looking at the ground. He wouldn't raise his head.

"His head was raised by one of the officers. His head was upturned and I immediately identified him. He was quite clearly the man who had come to the guesthouse."

Samantha Mott told police she had seen a "very suspicious" man in a nearby park.

She told jurors: "I saw a chap sitting on a bench. He had a red mark on his forehead and carrier bags by his feet.

"In those bags there was what appeared to be clothing. He was unkempt, unshaven and generally dirty.

"He was rubbing his nose and making sniffing noises.

"It made me feel uncomfortable because we had a small child with us."

Ms Mott said a few minutes later she saw an ambulance speeding towards Lower Park Road.

According to the defence the mentally ill man - known only as Mr B - killed Billie-Jo and stuffed a piece of black bin liner up her nose.

He is said to have had a "somewhat obsessive fixation with clearing his airways and with plastic bags".

He was later admitted to a mental hospital.

The trial continues.