One of the men accused of murdering ground worker Michael Tierney was involved in a drunken row with a shopkeeper minutes before the deadly attack, it has been alleged.

George French - wearing a Trilby hat, shorts and flip-flops - was heard to say: "Do You know who I am? I am a Chatham Boy," the prosecution has claimed.

Mr Tierney died after being beaten with an axe handle and stamped on "between 10 or 11 times", the murder trial was told.

French had been with a pal called Roop Masih, who had been seen in Castle Road revving the engine of his parked van, Canterbury Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC said: “French appeared to the woman to be ‘slaughtered’. He was trying as hard as he could to stay on his feet.”

Mr Masih was then seen to “knock into” French as they walked to a Chinese Take-Away called Bill’s Chinese.

“The driver was also obviously very drunk and was swaying using the whole path as he walked," added Ms Healy.

The jury heard the householder was so concerned that she called the police and took the registration number of the van.

The jury was shown CCTV footage showing Mr Masih “muttering to himself” and shadowboxing as he and French went to the One Stop Shop and the SS Mini Market in Magpie Hall Road.

During an argument in the One Stop Shop, French is alleged to have told a store assistant: “I’ll jump over that counter and squash your little head”.

"He was lifting his right leg up and stamping down on the man’s head and shoulders. It looked as though he missed a couple of times but he kept going, stamping at least 10 or 11 times" - Prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC

The prosecutor said the two then walked along Magpie Hall Road towards Haig Avenue where an alleyway led to Glencoe Road, where Mr Tierney lived.

Mr Tierney’s partner Katarzyna Bak heard noises coming from their rear garden and saw two men.

The prosecutor added: “Ms Bak went out of the front house to the end of the alley. She stood in Glencoe Road and could hear what she described as 'proper thumping' on the gate.

“She said she would call the police as one of the men pushed her with his shoulder saying: ‘We are the Chatham Boys from Glencoe Road!’," the prosecutor said.

French was then alleged to have had an argument with another neighbour, telling her: “You don’t know who you are messing with. In our day we wouldn’t phone the police. We are just a couple of drunks trying to get home. Do you know who I am? I’m a Chatham boy!”

The jury heard that it was then that they were confronted by Mr Tierney who was allegedly told by French: “Go back inside before I smash you up!”

Mr Tierney then armed himself with a pick-axe handle and chased the men up the street – when Mr Masih and French went in different directions.

French is alleged to have been joined by his cousin William Fleming and the two were then alleged to have murdered Mr Tierney.

Ms Healy told how a teenager looked out of a window to see a man run up to another man “and smack him with what looked like a bat”.

She added: “The man dropped to the ground and the other man continued to hit the man on the floor a couple more times.

“It looked as though all the blows were to the head of the man on the ground. He saw another man there walk up to the man on the ground and start stamping on him.

“He was lifting his right leg up and stamping down on the man’s head and shoulders. It looked as though he missed a couple of times but he kept going, stamping at least 10 or 11 times.

“The eyewitness described the man as being in a zone and looked as though he was enjoying it," she claimed.

French, 39, of Ansell Avenue and William Fleming, 26, of White Road, both in Chatham, have denied murdering the 33-year-old dad-of-two in June this year.

The trial continues.