A man accused of killing his friend over a cocaine debt told a court he pocketed an envelope of cash from the scene so his dad would not see the drugs money.

Michael Jordan, 25, from Ashtead, is accused of hitting his drug dealer friend Matthew Demko over the head with a metal barbell and strangled him with wires in the garage of his family's house, on Friday, April 4, after failing to repay a £3,600 debt.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey yesterday, Jordan said he picked up a bloodstained white envelope containing £200 from the floor of the garage where Mr Demko lay injured before going to get help from his father, Stephen.

He explained to the jury he did not want his dad to see "drugs money and drugs paraphernalia lying around".

Prosecutor Michael Austin-Smith QC asked Jordan why he did not pick up a bag containing cannabis which was also in the garage.

He said: "I did look for the bag of cannabis that I knew was in the garage and I could not see it. I did not see until I was busy with the paramedics."

The jury heard how Mr Demko arrived at Jordan's house at around 5pm.

Before he arrived Jordan said he picked up over £3,000 from his room and may have put it in his pocket, as he went to the garage to wait for Mr Demko.

After Mr Demko arrived Jordan said he put the money on a bench in the garage, next to Mr Demko, before going back into the house to get a CD.

"I put it on the bench next to Matthew while we were talking," he said.

As he got back into the garge, after picking up the CD, Jordan saw a man in a blue fleece walking "nonchalantly" out of the garage and into Links Road, towards the rail station.

When he entered the garage, he saw Mr Demko lying in a corner.

"I thought he was joking so I said something like 'get up you d***'," he said.

He then saw blood and realising something was wrong he looked out the garage door and saw the top of the man's head as he walked away.

"I saw the top of his head over the hedge and I think I shouted 'Oi' and then went to help Matt," he said.

Jordan put Mr Demko into recovery position, performed CPR and cleared the floor of a white envelope which he said he "somehow subconsciously knew had money in it" and two lighters before going back into the house.

"After I found him and realised the severity of the situation I went back into the house and got my dad and the phone," Jordan said.

Mr Austin-Smith said Mr Demko spoke to Lindsay Ashworth on his mobile phone at 5.09pm and at 5.24pm he missed a call from his friend Martyn Goody. They also heard how the call to 999 was made at 5.32pm.

Jordan said: "I cannot comment as to why he missed that call. I don't know."

He also said he did not remember the order of events of that day very well.

Jordan said that after speaking to the paramedics, he and his father moved things around the garage, including the metal barbell.

"I had no reason to suspect that was the murder weapon," he said. "When a person is injured the first thing you do is move things from around them and that's what I did."

Jordan said he did not know why anybody would want to hurt Mr Demko and that he has been trying to work out for the last 10 months what could have happened.

He said: "That stuff about gypsies in the area they are only rumours, so I don't think that is the case."

Jordan denies murder.

The trial continues.