A MAN has today gone on trial accused of "bludgeoning" to death Derby drug dealer Trevor Middleton with a metal bar.
Andrejs Pozdnakovs is alleged to have repeatedly struck Mr Middleton around the head with the bar of a dumbbell before searching his Normanton flat for money and drugs.
Mr Middleton's decomposing body was found 11 days later at his home in Northumberland Street. He had died from severe head injuries.
Pozdnakovs, 30, a Latvian of no fixed address but from the Normanton area, denies murder.
Prosecutor Yvonne Coen QC said at Derby Crown Court today: "We say this defendant visited Trevor Middleton in his flat and attacked him repeatedly with severe force using some sort of metal bar - the sort found in a hand dumbbell.
"Trevor Middleton was bludgeoned to death with a metal bar and was left dead in his flat for 11 days until the alarm was raised by some of his associates and his decomposing body was found."
The trial continues.
