OVERWHELMING evidence has been submitted to prove a 25-year-old man "bludgeoned to death" an elderly Burnley caretaker in the mill where he worked, a Crown Court jury was told.

Gavin Cox denies killing 74-year-old Bryan "Joe" Platt of Sycamore Close, Burnley, at Calder Marketing, Nunn Hills Mill, Stacksteads, on February 10.

But Paul Reid, QC, prosecuting, told the trial Cox, of Park Road, Waterfoot, gave evidence in his police confession, which he later retracted, and showed knowledge which could be known only by the person who committed the attack.

Mr Platt was struck about the head several times and a fire extinguisher was squirted in the area where he died.

Mr Reid said: "The person who used the fire extinguisher did not realise he was providing some of the most damning evidence against himself -- footwear marks from his Nike trainer.

"By careful examination of the latter and when the powder was removed from the floor, forensic scientists were able to establish the person wearing Nike trainers had been in various parts of the mill, left a footprint in blood, left a footprint in powder following, the Crown submit to you, the finishing off of Joe Platt."

Audrey Platt, Mr Platt's widow, cried as she heard her husband's death described again.

He described Mr Platt as having been "bludgeoned to death."

Cox's then girlfriend, Sarah Bugat, 32, who at the time lived at Church Street, Stacksteads, denies handling stolen property, namely cigarettes or tobacco belonging to Mr Platt.

Mr Reid told the jury: "You will have formed an opinion whether she knew they had been involved in the burglary.

"One thing you can be sure about is the cigarettes and tobacco did come from that burglary and you can probably conclude against her that she did handle those goods knowing or believing them to be stolen.

Steve Riordan, QC, defending Cox, admitted his client "didn't have a lot going for him". But he said more than one person was involved in this crime.

"Three people together were involved, but we don't have to prove it to you.

"It is not for the defence to prove that more than one person was involved and in fact somebody else killed Mr Platt. It is for the prosecution to prove that it was Cox and him alone who carried it out." He queried how, without a vehicle, Cox was going to move all the bags he had packed up in daylight without arousing suspicion. He said: "It isn't logical. It isn't sense."

Mr Riordan maintained Michael Furlong lied about his involvement and said five different witnesses gave different accounts of Mr Furlong's whereabouts.

He said Mr Furlong also had a mobile phone that belonged to Mr Platt which he gave to the police, cigarettes he discarded and an Ellesse jacket which came from the burglary "part-payment for his part, with more to come after the sale of the clothes," he said.

Mark Ryan, defending Bugat, questioned why other people known to her were not also on handling charges.

He said: "I suggest it is a tactic by the Crown because Bugat could and did tell you what Cox was doing over that weekend.

"I asked you not to tar Bugat with the same brush just because of her friends and her lifestyle."

He said no fingerprints of Bugat's had been found on the cigarettes or tobacco police seized from her address. He said: "She is not accused of having terrible taste in boyfriends."

Paul Greatholder, 43, of Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, has admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

proceeding