AT a packed Bristol Crown Court, Stanton St Quintin swimming instructor Martin Sugden told the jury he fantasised about killing his Olympiad work colleague Donavan Van Lill but never carried it out.
There was standing room only in the public gallery when a bearded Sugden, 42, took to the stand to give evidence at the trial into the death of Mr Van Lill who disappeared on March 3, 2010.
An at times tearful Sugden told the court how following his 2006 holiday to South Africa with Corsham rugby players Mr Van Lill, 29, and Mark Rogers, he was disgusted with the racist behaviour of Mr Van Lill who he recalled being amused at the assault of a black youth outside a bar in Durban.
Sugden also spoke of two other incidents, one in which Mr Van Lill smashed the head of a black youth against a wall while pretending to be a policeman and the other when he and two well built South African friends badly beat a black boy they passed in the street.
Sugden was moved to tears while recalling the scenes.
The court also heard how Sugden had kept a list of people who had wronged him or others including former school bullies, a bulling superior from his days in the army, and former Chippenham Olympiad manager Gary Milne from Devizes among others.
Also on a list of people he didn’t like were contributors to the Daily Mail and Daily Express newspapers, PR gurus, members of the Conservative Party and solicitors.
In a moment which brought a chuckle to the court room Mr Sugden told Crown Prosecution QC Christopher Parker: “Obviously, I want to apologise about the solicitor thing.”
Sugden explained the lists were not a list of targets but the scrambled thoughts of a man venting his frustration with the inequality of the world.
He said: “I read the papers and I get frustrated with the world.
“It’s not fair.
“I just want it to be different.”
When asked by defence QC Ignatius Hughes if he had committed murder a passionate Sugden said loudly: “I haven’t killed anybody.
“I haven’t hurt anybody.
“It’s crap. I’ve been in prison for a year.”
The trial continues.
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