A BUILDER told last week how he helped drag the body of Asian businessman Anil Chohan from a trench on farmland belonging to Belinda Brewin, best friend of the late Paula Yates.

William Horncy (52) said he thought he was only doing a favour for society celebrity Belinda Brewin by filling the ditch with stones and drainage pipes.

But instead, he was confronted with the corpse of Mr Chohan, wrapped in a drape "like a Christmas cracker", the Old Bailey heard.

Horncy is accused of plotting with drug dealer Ken Regan (55), of South Newton, near Salisbury, to murder Mr Chohan and his family, after luring him to a fake business meeting, in February 2003.

The company boss, his 25-year-old wife, two infant children and his mother-in-law were all buried in the trench in Tiverton, Devon, a few days later, it is claimed.

Horncy admits he helped to dig the trench with Regan and car dealer Peter Rees (39) but denies knowing Mr Chohan had been killed.

He told the jury he was told to pick up boxes of legal drugs once the hole was finished and did not watch it being filled.

Horncy claimed Regan told him the 46-year-old Asian businessman was "in hiding" because police were on his tail. Two months later, in April 2003, Regan asked him to help finish the ditch in Miss Brewin's field by adding slate and drainage pipes, he claimed.

But just as they had removed the earth, Regan approached him and said: "I have got to tell you something."

Horncy said: "He told me Anil Chohan was buried there. I could not believe it.

"He told me that the lives of his father, himself, Belinda and her two girls had been threatened by Asians.

"He told me he had been forced to bury Anil Chohan's body. He wanted me to help him get Mr Chohan out the ditch.

"I said I wanted nothing to do with it but he said it would not look good for Peter Rees or myself if Anil Chohan was found there.

He added: "The body was in a drape. I know it's not a very apt analogy but it looked like a large Christmas cracker.

"I helped Ken pull the body out of the trench and we pulled the body up the slope and put it in the van."

All five bodies of Mr Chohan and his family, of Sutton Road, Hounslow, were later dumped in the sea, it is claimed.

Regan, of Forge Close, South Newton, Horncy, of Adeline Road, Bournemouth, and Rees, of Kings Close, Rowlands Castle, Portsmouth, all deny five charges of murder between February 14 and April 23, 2003.

They further deny the false imprisonment of Mr Chohan between February 12 and April 28, 2003.

The trial continues.