A MAN who beat a teenager to death with a hammer told a court yesterday that it seemed like a dream.

Computer programmer Robert Green, 44, said he continued to hit Mark Stott, 18, with a 3lb hammer, despite realising he had a head wound.

Green, who denies murder, added: "It felt as if I was in a dream. It was like watching something happen. It was me doing the actions, but then watching the actions happen."

He denied it was a revenge killing after the teenager's mother Janice Stott ended their six-year relationship.

Afterwards he slashed his wrists and throat with a kitchen knife then phoned her to say: "Mark's dead. I'm about to die. How do you feel? I hit him with a hammer."

She phoned her ex-husband and police smashed their way into Green's home in Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, where they found Mark dying and Green in his bedroom.

James Spencer, QC, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Green collected the hammer from his locked garage and hid it behind the sofa before attacking Mark from behind.

Mr Spencer challenged Green: "You killed him intending to do so, didn't you?" But he replied: "I did not intend to hurt Mark ever. I have never ever wanted to hurt Mark."

Green said that they were due to marry this year, but she called it off twice and finally confessed to an affair with her married boss. He said he had intended to walk into her office and announce she was having an affair.

Christopher Green, a consultant forensic psychiatrist said that the defendant had been suffering from a depressive illness which substantially impaired his mental ability.

Green, of Cennon Grove, Ingleby Barwick, denies murder on June 6 last year. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

The case continues.