ONE of the men charged with murdering Denis Witney turned up at a friend’s house and admitted hitting him, a jury heard.

Wayne Cattell, 37, of Mortimer Road, Rose Hill, Daniel McCollin, 30, of Blay Close, Blackbird Leys, and Joanne Moriarty, 29, of Mortimer Road, Rose Hill, all deny Mr Witney’s murder.

Oxford Crown Court heard Cattell went to friend and Big Issue seller Steven Trigg’s house at 3am on November 10, 2011.

Mr Trigg told Oxford Crown Court yesterday: “He was very agitated and upset. The lad was really upset, he was in tears.

“He said someone’s been hurt quite badly and he did say he had hit him a couple of times.”

He said Cattell had stayed at his house for an hour, and changed his clothes, leaving a pair of jeans behind.

Later that day, Mr Trigg threw away the jeans in a bin in Magdalen Road, but when picked up by police he decided to “do the right thing” and showed officers where to find the clothing.

But he denied he binned the jeans because he saw blood stains on them.

He said: “I threw them in a bin because I didn’t want to be involved.”

Moriarty, who is in custody, arrived at the trial from HMP Bronsfield over two hours late.

Judge Patrick Eccles asked a representative from security firm GEO Amey to address him at the end of the day in relation to the issue.

Area operations manager Gary Agate said the delay was “unforgivable”.