When estate agents John King and Gordon Straker visited a repossessed property they were overseeing in Rowde in April last year they were shocked to find the former owner sitting in the kitchen.

They recognised him as Michael Chudley, the former owner of Kingfisher House, formerly known as Rowde Mill House, who was supposed to have left the property weeks before.

Today Mr King told Salisbury Crown Court, where Chudley is on trial for the murder of Devizes solicitor Jim Ward, that, though the locks had been changed in the house, Chudley had managed to gain entry and was sitting in the kitchen with a bottle and a glass in front of him.

Chudley was sick in the kitchen sink in front of the estate agents.

Mr King said: “Gordon said, what on earth are you doing here and Mr Chudley replied by asking if he could stay on for a few days as he had nowhere else to go.

"Mr Chudley said to us, this is all the fault of your mate. When we asked him who he meant, he said, your mate Ward.”

Mr King said he had never met Mr Ward and he didn’t think Mr Straker knew him either.

Chudley refused to leave so the two estate agents told him they were leaving and locking the doors behind them and would call the police. Mr King returned to the house with police officers but no one was found at the premises.

Cross-examined by Ian Glen QC, defending, Mr King said that the property was on the market for £900,000 because of its state of repair but said that, even in good order, it would not be worth more than £1million. Chudley believed the house to be worth in excess of £1.5million.