A MAN carried on with his own life as normal hours after throttling a frail pensioner and setting fire to his home in an attempt to hide the evidence, a court heard yesterday.

The Crown Prosecution Service says that Malcolm Harland shopped for alcohol, went to a pub and even returned to the crime scene to pay his respects to the dead man while police guarded the property.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court was told that the dead man – the father of West End performer Chris McGlade – and Mr Harland were close friends who had known each other for years.

The body of Terence McGlade, 77, was found when firefighters were called to deal with a blaze at his home in Pennine Crescent, Redcar, in the early hours of July 9.

Despite Mr McGalde’s remains being badly burnt, a pathologist was able to establish that the retired joiner had suffered two fractures to his neck, two breaks to his ribs and bruises to his lips.

Mr Harland later showed police how he grabbed the grandfather around the neck from behind “until he went limp and fell to the floor” after they had an argument.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, told the jury that the homeless divorcee has since changed his story from throttling Mr McGlade for five minutes, to it lasting a matter of seconds.

A recording of one of 50-year-old Mr Harland’s interviews will be played to the jury, during which he “demonstrates the hold” and calls it a “moment of madness”, said Miss Egerton.

“When you have seen how he demonstrates what he did, the Crown say you will be bound to conclude what happened was certainly not for the moment,”

said Miss Egerton said.

“The Crown says that at the time of the killing, this defendant had an intention to kill, or, at the very least, an intention to cause really serious bodily injury to Terence McGlade.”

Miss Egerton said after the killing, Mr Harland went to a store to buy alcohol, visited his ex-wife and asked her to wash his clothes and then met friends and acquaintances in a nearby pub.

He said he had learnt about Mr McGlade’s death from news reports “and suggested he was in shock” before visiting an elderly neighbour of the victim and breaking down in tears.

Then, he returned to the burnt out bungalow while it was being guarded, paid his respects and “emphasised” to the police officer on guard that he had not seen Mr McGlade for more than a week.

Miss Egerton said it may never be known what sparked the argument, but said it may have been Mr McGlade criticising his friend about his lifestyle or him asking for a debt to be settled.

Mr McGlade’s son told the jury that his father claimed Mr Harland had stolen money from him in the past.

Mr Harland, of no fixed address, had been evicted from his rented flat in Queen Street, Redcar, less than a fortnight before the killing and may have spent some nights in Mr McGlade’s home.

He has pleaded guilty to arson, but denies murder.