KILLER Adrian Howker's claim he stabbed 'Gipsy' John Russell to death after the pensioner told him he had sexually abused his step-daughter were just a 'convenient excuse', a court heard.

Howker told a jury he had gone to the pigeon fancier's home in Narvik Avenue, Burnley, to persuade Mr Russell to accept him as part of the family -- but lost control and killed him when he heard of the abuse. He claims he cannot remember inflicting the injuries.

Mr Russell, 63, was stabbed to death in the hallway of his home on December 16 last year.

Howker, 32, of Hawthorne Road, Burnley admits manslaughter on the grounds of provocation but denies murder.

The court heard Howker had never met Mr Russell, who refused to accept the younger man when he started seeing his step-daughter Dawn Pinches.

However, Peter Wright QC, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said Howker's suggestion he lost control and killed Mr Russell were wide of the mark.

He said: "This was a convenient excuse, a way of explaining why it was that you lost it. You were aware in advance of going to that house of the suggestion Dawn had been sexually abused. The simple fact is you decided John Russell was going to have to die."

Mr Wright said Howker had tried to cover up his role in the death.

He said: "You went there to kill him and you did. Thereafter, it was an exercise to conceal your responsibility for the death."

He added: "In the aftermath of the killing, you embarked upon a systematic attempt to destroy any evidence connecting you with the murder of John Russell."

The court heard after the killing, Howker took the dead man's car, went home and showered before changing his bloodstained clothes and driving to the remote Thursden Valley, disposing of both the clothes and the knife used in the killing on the way.

The car was later found abandoned.

Howker handed himself in to the police five days later when he was charged with Mr Russell's murder.

(Proceeding)