A MAN accused of “milking” a frail pensioner for cash and gifts told a jury he did not mean to kill him.

Ryan Campbell described a confrontation with George Kidson and said the 85-year-old had waved a bank statement in his face, which he then ripped up.

He said he grabbed Mr Kidson by the throat “for a second”, before letting him go, causing him to crumple to the floor and claimed his death had been an accident.

Mr Campbell denies the murder of the retired teacher who was discovered unconscious and naked from the waist down at his large detached property in Sowerby, Thirsk, on November 5 last year and died from brain injuries four days later.

Mr Campbell, who was subject to lengthy cross examination at Teesside Crown Court by prosecutor Paul Mitchell, was accused of leaving Mr Kidson to die and failing to call 999 for an ambulance.

Mr Mitchell said: “You were using him as a ready source of funds and as a place to doss down.

“By 2015 you were milking this man for everything you could get.”

The 30-year-old defendant, whose last address was Racecourse Mews, Thirsk, said he met the victim when he was aged 13 and said Mr Kidson began touching him sexually. In return he was given cigarettes, alcohol and money.

He said: “He was chucking money at me left, right and centre. At that time I did not know anything different and did not realise what was going on.”

Mr Campbell said he did not want the sexual liaisons, which apparently occurred on a number of occasions over several years, but said he was attempting to keep a roof over his head.

The court heard how Mr Kidson had paid Mr Campbell’s mobile phone bills, but in the days preceding his death they had argued over money. Mr Mitchell suggested the victim was “pulling the plug” and had told the defendant he would no longer fund him to the extent he was.

He said Mr Campbell was “drunk, angry and desperate for cash” when he went to the pensioner’s home and Mr Kidson was a “soft target” incapable of defending himself.

Mr Campbell denied he pulled a phone socket out of a wall to stop Mr Kidson phoning for help and that he had forcefully taken a ring off him, saying he had been offered it in return for oral sex.

He also said he had never seen a knife with Mr Kidson’s blood on it, found near his body, which the prosecution say was used to threaten the pensioner.

Mr Mitchell said Mr Campbell was lying about his account as it did not explain the victim’s injuries.

He said: “You put your arm around his neck and pulled him as hard as you could. Prior to that you had already put your hand over his mouth to stop him shouting for help and in addition you hit him to the head and chest.”

The prosecutor added: “You attacked him and killed him?”

Mr Campbell replied: “Apparently so, but I did not mean to.”

The trial was told Mr Campbell received a 12 month jail sentence for driving offences in October 2014 - serving six – before re-establishing contact with Mr Kidson.

He had previous convictions for shoplifting, burglary and possessing cannabis, but none for assault or robbery.

The trial continues.