A talented jazz musician was murdered and dismembered when he complained after a drug dealer killed his cat, a court heard.
William Algar, 53, was stabbed to death and parts of his body were found on a nature reserve.
Mr Algar, 53, who was known as by his middle name of Blaise, had objected to a 19-year-old threatening to kill his cat Felix and paid with his life, jurors heard.
After complaining to the teenager, who cannot be named, Mr Algar was stabbed through his chest at his home in Barnes, West London.
Prosecution witness Philip Ross said the teen killer confessed knifing Mr Algar.
Simon Emmons, 40, is said to have returned with the 19-year-old teenager to Mr Algar’s home.
Emmons is accused of butchering hacking up Mr Algar’s body leaving his head and torso attached and wrapped in a duvet but his limbs severed.
The limbs were later found on Hounslow Heath. Felix the cat has never been found.
The following morning the pair stabbed another man, 35-year-old Ebrima Cham, 11 times in a ‘ferocious and frenzied’ murder the following morning, the Old Bailey heard.
Simon Emmons, 40, is accused of cutting off William Algar’s limbs, wrapping his head and torso in sheets and burying them in a nature reserve in December 2019 (pictured, Mr Algar)
Police forensics teams enter a tent at Mr Algar’s home in Barnes, south-west London
Philippa McAtasney, defending Emmons, said to Mr Ross: ‘You believed the teenager had killed Blaise with what he was saying.
‘He had done that because he had treated as inferior or had been disrespected and did not like that. That is how he came to kill the cat.
‘He made it clear that if he says he is going to do something he was going to do it.
‘He had to kill the cat and that is how he and Blaise came to have a confrontation.’
Mr Ross said: ‘First off, I did not really want to know. It is very scary to have that on your mind and not being able to tell anyone.
‘I have lied about many things in my life but I have never lied about murdering someone, that is crazy.’
Crispin Aylett, prosecuting, told the jury: ‘You may recall that, when I began my address to you, I said that the 19-year-old had confessed to the murder of William Algar.
‘Philip Ross was the man to whom he confessed. According to Mr. Ross, he also admitted his part in the murder of someone called ‘Brim’.
‘According to Mr Ross, the teenager said that he had a friend called ‘Blaise’.
Jurors have been told Mr Algar (pictured) was targeted over a bitter drugs feud after he became involved in the supply of heroin and fell into debt with the alleged killers
‘According to the teenager, Blaise had also been involved in the supply of drugs but at a higher level in the chain than him.
‘He said that he used to go to Blaise’s flat for what he referred to as a ‘re-up’, in other words, to re-load.
‘He told Mr Ross that, one day, he and Blaise had got into an argument.
‘According to him, Blaise had spoken disrespectfully to him. He had told Blaise, ‘I’m not your bitch’ or something…If you keep talking to me this way, if this keeps carrying on, I will kill your cat’.
‘Mr Ross is under the impression that the argument had continued and he believes that he said that he had killed the cat – although he is not certain about this.
‘Pausing there, whether William Algar owned a cat or simply fed one, a box of cat food was found in the kitchen at Nowell Road.
‘It is also the case that, on 22nd November, William Algar had used a pay-phone not far from his flat to ring the police.
Emmons and the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are accused of then murdering Ebrima Cham (pictured) in a ‘ferocious and frenzied’ stabbing the next day
Police found Ebrima Cham, known locally as Brim, had suffered from stab wounds and he was pronounced dead. Pictured: The scene in December 2019
‘Mr Algar told the police that someone was trying to kill his cat.
‘Mr. Ross says that the teenager told him that the two of them had begun struggling with one another.
‘He said that he had pulled a knife out – ‘I backed the rams [Rambo] out’ – and it had been ‘either me or him’.
‘He said that had stabbed Blaise in the chest and Blaise had died.
‘He told Mr Ross that he had dragged Blaise’s body into the bathroom and then placed it in the bathtub.
‘Mr Ross says that he had the impression that the teenager and Blaise had been the only people in the flat at the time of this incident.
‘The teenager said that he had not unable to get rid of the body because it had been ‘only me’ in the flat.’
Emmons, of no fixed address, denies perverting the course of justice and murdering Mr Cham.
The 19-year-old, of no fixed address, denies two counts of murder relating to Mr Algar and Mr Cham.
Felix the cat has never been found.
The trial continues.
