Murder jury told of sex fantasies

A paedophile accused of murdering nine-year-old Daniel Handley told a jury yesterday he was sexually abused at the age of four while living in a Barnado's home. Brett Tyler, 30, also told the Old Bailey he had sex with a male friend at the age of 12 and had a criminal record for indecency with young boys.

Tyler, who denies murdering Daniel but admits buggering and falsely imprisoning him on 2 October 1994, said he was put in the home when he was six months old and remained until he was eight years old; five or six times he had gone off with a man known as John and had sexual intercourse.

After a succession of odd jobs Tyler was arrested for indecency with young boys and sentenced to four years in prison. In Wormwood Scrubs he met Timothy Morss, 33, of Leyton, east London, who admits murdering, buggering and falsely imprisoning Daniel.

Tyler said that after his release from jail he went on the first of many trips to the Philippines, where he had sex withboys. Back in Britain, he had driven around London with Morss, who fantasised about abducting and killing a young boy. Tyler said he never believed Morss would carry out his fantasy.

When Tyler suggested that by grabbing his victim from behind he could not be identified and therefore did not need to kill him, Morss rejected the idea. "He said he wanted to look in their eyes," Tyler said. He claimed he had already fulfilled his own fantasies and had no desire to harm or kill anyone.

The court was earlier told that Daniel was abducted from a street near his home in Beckton, east London, taken to a flat by Morss and Tyler to be videoed while they buggered him and then murdered before being buried at Bradley Stoke, near Bristol. Tyler claims Morss strangled Daniel and that he played no part in killing him.

The case continues.