Son 'brutally killed in revenge'

Michael was studying for a degree in geography

A civil servant hacked and bludgeoned to death a former lover's son in a revenge attack, a court has heard.

Michael Jones, 18, was murdered by Gerard Paul because he thought he stood in the way of their relationship, the Old Bailey has been told.

Mr Paul's affair with Michael's mother, Kathleen Kirby-Jones, ended a month before the attack in Edmonton, north London, in March 2008, the jury heard.

Mr Paul, 46, of Enfield, north London, denies murder.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court Ms Kirby-Jones returned home to find the blood-soaked body of the university student in a room they used as an office.

'Bitter, twisted man'

After hearing footsteps at the house she barricaded herself in the room as Mr Paul tried to force the door open before fleeing, the jury was told.

Mr Altman told the jury: "Miss Kirby-Jones might have been the next victim had she not resisted."

He told the court that Mr Paul knew of the close relationship between the mother and her son, adding: "Michael had become an unwelcome obstacle to the success of the relationship."

Michael had been stabbed in a frenzied and brutal attack which left him with the most appalling mutilating injuries Brian Altman QC

He said: "This was a deliberate, planned and coolly executed murder in cold-blood by a bitter, twisted man at the conclusion of a relationship where his ambitions had been thwarted."

Items of jewellery had been taken from his body "perhaps as an after-thought" to suggest a burglary, he told the court.

Mr Altman said the student had been tied up with brown parcel tape around his wrists, hands, knees and ankles.

"Michael had been stabbed in a frenzied and brutal attack which left him with the most appalling mutilating injuries," Mr Altman said.

At the time Mr Paul was a middle-ranking civil servant responsible for the child protection data base at the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Michael had been studying for a degree in geography at Queen Mary, University of London.

The case continues.