A TEENAGER accused of murder hit his 71-year-old victim in the head with a hammer up to 40 times before bragging to his friends that he was a ‘psycho’ who wanted to kill again, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of murdering Warrington and District Football League ‘legend’ Richard Percival at his home in Newton-le-Willows in August.

Known as ‘Dickie’, Mr Percival was found dead at the property on Dixon Avenue on Friday, August 18, having sustained a blow to the head.

While the youth has admitted the manslaughter of Mr Percival, he has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder.

His trial – which is expected to last more than a week – opened at Liverpool Crown Court today, Wednesday.

The court heard that Mr Percival’s neighbours had last seen him when entering his property at around 8.30pm on Thursday, August 17.

Neighbours called Merseyside Police the following afternoon when they noticed that Mr Percival’s curtains were still drawn, and his television was on.

At around 4pm, officers entered the house and found him dead – kneeling face down on the sofa in his living room.

Shortly after 2am on Saturday, August 19, the defendant visited his friend at his flat in Newton.

The youth told him: “I just killed someone.”

He claimed that at around 9pm on the Thursday evening, he had hit the pensioner once over the head with a claw hammer before he ‘got an adrenaline rush’ and attacked Mr Percival with the weapon around 40 times.

The friend was told that, before the youth had left Mr Percival’s home, he had stolen £2,000 – which he then used £1,000 of to buy drugs, and took them with a friend.

The teenager said to his friend that he was ‘seeing the man he killed in reflections in the window, like he was taunting him’.

But the youth also claimed that he was ‘really happy’ and had even become sexually aroused when he was killing Mr Percival.

He told his friend that ‘he wanted to kill someone else and would kill any police officer who tried to stop him’, before bragging that that he was ‘a psycho’.

His friend contacted the police, who then got in touch with the defendant’s family.

The youth told his sister in a phone call: “I’ve killed a paedophile who has tried to touch me for two years – I’ve bashed his head in with a hammer.”

At around 4am, a police officer was driving along Oak Avenue in Newton when she spotted the defendant and arrested him.

His burnt clothing was found in the car park of the Viaduct Sports and Social Club on Earle Street later that morning, while the murder weapon was found on parkland off Borron Road on Monday, August 21.

In a post-mortem, a Home Office pathologist found that Mr Percival had been hit in the head with the hammer ‘at least nine times’ and three times to the back of his shoulders.

The court heard that he had been ‘subject to a very violent and sustained assault’, with ‘considerable force involved’.

Under interview, the defendant told police that he had hit Mr Percival with the hammer between three and five times, adding that he ‘didn’t want to kill him’ and instead ‘wanted to knock him out to teach him a lesson’.

The youth had claimed that Mr Percival had tried to sexually assault him on a number of occasions since they had first met at the end of 2016.

He also denied making the comments to the friend .

Prosecuting barrister Nigel Power told the jury: “The defendant must have intended to cause at least serious harm to Mr Percival.

“He struck him to the head at least nine times with considerable force.

“Whatever the truth of the allegations made against Mr Percival, this wasn’t a case of losing control.

"It was a case of pre-arming himself with a hammer and exacting brutal punishment upon him, whether for revenge or some other reason.”

The youth had previously denied a charge of theft – having been accused of stealing £620 from the property after killing Mr Percival – but admitted the offence on the first day of his trial.

Mr Power added that the teen had ‘ransacked’ Mr Percival’s home after the attack, taking the quantity of cash.

Following his death, Warrington and District Football League paid tribute to Mr Percival – who had served the league for more than two decades.

A statement said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of a league legend, Richard Percival – Dickie, as he was known by many, was a great servant to the Warrington and District Football League, with 21 years’ service on the committee and gaining lifelong membership.

“Dickie will be sadly missed by everyone involved with grassroots football, and especially the league.”

He was also described as a ‘club legend’ at Vulcan FC, where he had played football for many before becoming secretary.

The club held a minute’s silence at its first team game the week after Mr Percival died.

A statement from the club, released at the time of his death, said: “Richard, known to all as Dickie, was a tremendous servant to the club – both on and off the pitch.

“Dickie began his playing career in the 1960s and continued playing into his 40s – Dickie took on the role as club secretary and kept his role well into his 60s.

“Dickie was a regular at Vulcan games, both home and away.

“When not attending games, Dickie kept in regular contact with the club – checking on how things were going.

“Dickie will be sadly missed by everyone involved with Vulcan FC.”

The trial continues.