A jury has begun deliberating whether the brutal death of a man in Acton was murder.

Giuseppe Lomedico denies the charge after Terry Longman was found with “his head open” following a hammer attack on March 24.

He admits bludgeoning his friend to death but says he was acting in self-defence after rejecting Mr Longman’s sexual advances, which triggered bad childhood memories.

The prosecution say the 55-year-old’s defence is based on lies and that he intended to kill his victim before taking some of his personal belongings.

During a two-week trial at the Old Bailey, Judge Michael Topolski QC heard Mr Lomedico and Mr Longman, 50, were friends, after meeting at the Hope Centre at Acton Baptist Church.

The defendant, a father-of-four born in Italy, had been sleeping at Mr Longman’s home, in Cumberland Park, Acton, for a period before the attack, the court heard.

The court was told Lomedico walked into Acton police station at 9.40pm on March 24 to say he had been to his friend's and found him dead. He was visibly upset and told officers he had nearly fainted when he found the body, before taking police to the scene.

The orange-handled hammer was found beside the body. Mr Lomedico was arrested by police and angrily protested his innocence.

The prosecution argued the victim was attacked by Mr Lomedico around five hours earlier, who then left the property, taking Mr Longman’s Oyster and bank cards, and mobile phone, which he later tried to sell at Cash Converters.

It was only several days later, at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where Lomedico was being held in remand, that he first admitted to the killing, the jury was told.

The court heard Mr Lomedico had cut his wrist open and smeared his blood over his face in the cell. He later admitted killing Mr Longman, saying he had awoken with the victim who was in an aroused state, thrusting and grinding against his body. The defendant said he feared he would be raped.

Mr Lomedico tried to escape, the court was told, but Mr Longman came at him with a screwdriver. He used a knife, first to try a ward off Mr Longman, before striking him with the claw hammer at least 13 times, it was heard.

The pair allegedly had a history of drink and drug issues. The court heard Mr Longman had a history of losing his temper when drunk and, on one occasion, held a knife to his sister’s throat, believing her to be their mother.

But it was noted there was no evidence or suggestions provided from others during the trial to indicate he had homosexual tendencies.

A post-mortem revealed it likely that Mr Longman lost consciousness very close to the start of the hammer attack but did not die for an hour or so.

Prosecutor Sarah Plaschkes QC urged the jury to “listen carefully to the silent witnesses”, such as blood splatter on the walls, which indicated the defendant had not been moving when hit.

She said he "embellished and fabricated stories" and added: “The only intent this man had was to kill. He is quite simply guilty of murder.”

Defence lawyer Joseph Stone said Mr Longman had gone to attack Mr Lomedico so that he would not tell mutual friends of his advances. He said a murderer would not leave the hammer at the scene and later alert police.

The trial began on September 21. The jury retired shortly before 3pm on Friday (October 2) to consider its verdict.