A man accused of murdering his love rival feared for years he would walk back into his life, a jury heard.

Graham Haylett said he did not kill anybody and did not know Leonard Fulbirg was dead.

He said he fortified the home he shared with Mr Fulbirg's former partner, Tracey Cameron, to protect the couple in case he returned to Bradford.

Mr Fulbirg, a scrap dealer, vanished on August 11, 1996, after leaving his brother Robert's home in Coldbeck Drive, Buttershaw.

His torso bones were found on Oxenhope Moor above Keighley seven months later. His body had been chopped up and burned. His head and limbs have never been found.

Haylett and Cameron, both 40, deny murdering him.

The prosecution has alleged the pair lured Mr Fulbirg, 49, to his death because he was an obstacle to their happiness.

Mr Fulbirg had arranged to meet Cameron outside McDonalds in Rooley Lane, Bradford. He set off to see her and was never seen again.

Haylett, of Wilson Wood Street, Batley, was giving evidence at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

He said he and Cameron began an affair while Mr Fulbirg was on the run.

Their relationship got stronger and by July 1996 he was spending most nights at her home in Hyne Avenue, Bierley.

Cameron, a mother-of-three, now of Dunsford Avenue, Bierley, had been in a relationship with Mr Fulbirg for three years and they had a daughter.

Haylett said he believed Cameron's relationship with Mr Fulbirg was over, although he would not have been pleased had he found out about his affair with Cameron.

Haylett said he never saw Mr Fulbirg after he was released from prison on August 1, 1996.

Later that month a group of travellers in Bradford told him Mr Fulbirg had been "seen to".

"I thought he had had a beating, been taken out of Bradford and told not to return," Haylett told the jury.

He said it was widely known at the time that Mr Fulbirg was a paedophile and the news did not surprise him.

"It was a mixture of emotions, relief, excitement, lots of different things, and doubt as well."

He began living with Cameron in Hyne Avenue but he said he doubted for a lot of years whether they had seen the last of Mr Fulbirg.

He said they put extra chains on the doors, he put a six foot high fence round the garden, with steel gates and bought a guard dog.

Haylett said that as time went on he felt more relaxed and more relieved.

Asked by his barrister Tom Bayliss, QC: "Have you ever told anybody that Leonard Fulbirg's chopped up on the moors?" Haylett replied "No".

He said he did not kill anybody and it was terrible being in prison facing the allegation.

The trial continues.