Property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten took the witness stand at the Old Bailey today to deny a murder described as "a bungled farce".

Opening the defence case, Richard Ferguson QC said the killing of landlord Mohammed Raja bore the characteristics of a robbery gone wrong rather than a contract killing.

The prosecution alleges millionaire Hoogstraten paid two hitmen to kill Mr Raja, who had accused him of fraud.

But the Old Bailey heard the amount of money involved was 'trifling'.

Taking the stand, Hoogstraten said the matter was worth £40,000 to £50,000. He said his art collection alone was worth £200 million.

Hoogstraten said: "Whatever money one has is never enough. The house which I have been building for 17 years has cost something in the region of £25 to £28 million.

"My art collection is worth not less than £200 million. It is all relative really. Even if one has £500 million it does not go very far."

Hoogstraten said he had about 30 bank accounts in this country alone, mostly in the name of Von Hessen. He also told of his substantial property holdings, which include seven or eight hotels in Brighton and Hove.

As he took the stand, dressed in a grey suit, blue shirt and blue tie, Hoogstraten initially fought back tears.

But the 57-year-old recovered his composure as he spoke about his early days making money through stamp dealings and properties in the Caribbean.

He later spoke about his relationship with Mr Raja.

The Old Bailey jury had previously heard Mr Raja's son Amjad, describe Hoogstraten as a 'loan shark'.

But Hoogstraten told the court today: "I take exception to being regarded as a loan shark. That is someone who operates on housing estates and loans relatively small amounts of money unsecured and follows it by trying to get people to borrow more money so they fall into a spiral.

"The minimum amount he was loaned was £100,000 and maximum was £700,000 to £800,000. Over a period of years it was a couple of million. That is not loan shark territory."

Referring to the murder of Mr Raja on July 2 1999, Mr Ferguson said the Crown referred to the murder as a contract killing.

Mr Ferguson said: "A contract killing, you may think, involves planning and expertise. A swift clinical strike. Arguably, perhaps, the employment of someone from abroad. Preferably, you may think, an attack away from the home of the victim.

"This was a bungled farce, more like an attempted robbery than a killing.

"The knife, and certainly a single-barrelled sawn-off shotgun, are hardly the weapons of a contract killer.

"Mr van Hoogstraten is a man of means. Do you not think if he had wanted Mr Raja killed he would have had a vastly more sophisticated plan?"

He added: "The raised voices, the shot through the ceiling, the moved furniture, a bag to carry out the loot ... are more suggestive, you may think, of a bungled robbery.

"Indeed, the scenario would have been laughable, if the consequence was not so tragic."

Mr Ferguson had earlier told the jury the police had no evidence against his client but had tried to make out he was "guilty by association".

He said Hoogstraten had always maintained his innocence and was abroad at the time of the crime.

Mr Ferguson brushed aside suggestions that Hoogstraten had wanted Mr Raja killed because of the litigation.

He said: "The possible financial consequences of the litigation were for him trifling.

"As a motive for murder, this is scraping the barrel. It is an insult to your intelligence and a travesty of justice to this defendant to put him on trial for such an absurd motive."

He added: "There was no mastermind. There was no contract."

He asked the jury to consider some aspects of the case to see if they rang true.

He said: "Can you get your head round paying for a killing by instalments. Not only by instalments but paying by cheque?"

Mr Ferguson suggested the key to the killing might lie with another business contact of the dead man who had more reason to want him dead.

Hoogstraten, of High Cross Estate, Framfield, near Uckfield, 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.