TWO thieves tortured an elderly man to death with a knife and his own walking stick during a burglary of his home, a court heard today.

Joby Barney, 25, and John James, 19, conspired with three other men to burgle the home of 75-year-old Reginald John Baker, prosecutor Christopher Parker QC told Winchester Crown Court.

Barney and James broke into the house on September 5 last year and inflicted serious injuries using their hands, feet, a knife and a walking stick to torture Mr Baker over a half-hour period, Mr Parker said.

He told the court: ''John James and Joby Barney burst into Mr Baker's home through the front door.

''They knocked him to the ground and over 35 minutes they ransacked his house and over that half hour they hit Mr Baker and they tortured him to make him reveal where he had hidden the remaining part of his savings.

''In doing so the injuries suggest they used their hands, their feet, they used a knife and they used Mr Baker's own walking stick.

''The injuries they inflicted on him were so serious that they killed him.''

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Barney, of Ringwood Road, Alderholt, Dorset, and James, of The Brambles, Salisbury, both deny murder and conspiracy to burgle.

A third defendant, John Wilkinson, 40, of Ford Lane, Ferndown, Dorset, denies a charge of burglary of Mr Baker's home in Landford, Wiltshire, on July 30 last year and conspiracy to burgle.

Two other defendants, Daniel Coker, 23, of The Brambles, Salisbury, Wiltshire, and Trevor Gray, 19, of Blackfriars, Salisbury, both pleaded guilty yesterday to the manslaughter of Mr Baker and to conspiracy to burgle.

Coker and Gray were remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.

Mr Parker told the jury that Wilkinson had been part of a three-man gang who had carried out a distraction burglary at the home of Mr Baker on July 30.

The three had charged the pensioner £500 to clear moss from the roof of his bungalow in Beech Grange but had then entered his house under the pretext of going to the toilet and having a glass of water.

After they left, Mr Baker found £2,300 in cash had been stolen from a chest of drawers where he kept his money and he alerted the police.

Mr Parker said police investigating this burglary brought Mr Baker to the Post Office to deposit the rest of his savings and they also installed a motion sensitive CCTV stills camera.

He added that this covert camera in Mr Baker's sitting room captured the break-in on September 5 and the torture that he endured.

Images from the camera were shown to the jury which Mr Parker said showed Mr Baker being knocked to the ground as James and Barney broke into the property.

He said Mr Baker was then dragged ''very quickly'' into the sitting room where he was tortured.

Mr Parker said: ''We can see from the speed and the violence which they entered this house, this was never intended to be some form of distraction burglary, this is 'We are coming in, like it or not'.''

Mr Parker said Mr Baker, known as John, was very frail and suffered from prostate cancer which had spread to his bones.

He added the injuries suffered by Mr Baker included 62 fractures to his ribs, broken neck and back, extensive bruising and stab and scratch marks to his face caused by a knife.

A post mortem examination showed he died of multiple blunt force injuries.

Mr Parker said while James and Barney were inside the property, Coker and Gray sat outside in a grey Peugeot car which was used as the getaway vehicle.

He said there were frequent telephone calls between the car and Barney's mobile phone during the time of the burglary.

He also added that Barney had been in contact with Wilkinson earlier that day.

Mr Parker said neighbours had become suspicious of Coker and Gray sitting in the car near to Mr Baker's home.

And when they saw the James and Barney run from the house into the moving car, they went to Mr Baker's home and called the police.

Mr Parker said: ''He was subjected to a severe and prolonged beating, he was cut and stabbed with a knife.

''He would never have recovered from those injuries. He was certainly dead by the time the police arrived and he was probably dead by the time those two left the house.''

Proceeding.