Man 'set body alight on motorway'

An artist's impression of the dead man, Sher Khan

A man has denied bludgeoning his flatmate to death, dumping his body on a motorway and setting it alight.

The charred body of Sher Khan, 60, was discovered by the side of the M45 near Rugby, Warwickshire, last year.

Irshad Wali, 52, is alleged to have killed Mr Khan at the home they shared with others in Plaistow, east London.

An Old Bailey jury was told that after dumping the body, Mr Wali began the deception that the dead man was in fact still alive and well.

'Invented stories'

Jeremy Donne QC, prosecuting, said: "If the body was not identified and if the victim had not been reported missing because people thought he was alive and well, then this defendant would quite literally have got away with murder."

"Unfortunately for him a thorough and painstaking police investigation did uncover the identity of the dead man and uncover the evidence that points conclusively to the defendant's guilt."

Mr Donne said the silver Toyota Carina used to transport the body was traced to Mr Khan, a Pakistani chicken shop owner and car dealer, who was under "financial pressure" at the time of his death.

It led police to the address in Plaistow, where they arrested Mr Wali.

The court heard that Mr Wali, an Afghan, was said to have withdrawn £300 from various bank accounts belonging to the victim.

'Sinister interest'

Two Highways Agency workers were the first to come across the body which they at first thought "might have been a mannequin".

The corpse, wrapped in a sheet, had nothing on it to identify it, the court heard. Further along the road police found a pair of bloodstained flip-flops.

Afterwards Mr Wali told friends that Mr Khan had decided to leave the house and invented stories that there were "people outside the house who had some form of sinister interest in the deceased man", Mr Donne said.

Mr Wali, of Crofton Road, Plaistow, denies murder and perverting the course of justice.

The trial is continuing.