A Carharrack man has denied that he ever confessed to the murder of a Falmouth OAP for which he is currently standing trial at Truro Crown Court.

Kevin Cooper, 35, formerly of Poldory View, was giving evidence this afternoon during his trial for the murder of David Alderson, 72, in January 2014.

He and co-defendant Trewen Kevern, 23, of Tresillian Road in Falmouth, both stand accused of murdering Mr Alderson, after the former driving instructor's body was found lying face down in a pool at the disused Wheal Maid mine near Carharrack.

The prosecution alleges that the pair led Mr Alderson to the spot on the night of January 27, 2014, on the pretext of an illegal gun deal, before beating him, drowning him, and taking £40,000 in life savings from his flat.

This afternoon Simon Laws, defending Kevern, cross examined Cooper over several alleged confessions he had made, about which the jury had already heard testimony.

He started by stating the case that Cooper had killed Mr Alderson, to which Cooper replied: "Not at all, your client did it not me.

Mr Laws then alleged that Cooper told several people the same or similar stories. First, that he had lied to Kevern's sister Tammy about where he had gotten a lot of money, alleging that it had been stolen from a family of travellers. He had then, it is alleged, told Tammy that one of the travellers "had abused his daughter" and "something to the effect that that made it alright that money was going to be taken.

He said: "You're the kind of person that says things like 'he's a sexual offender, he's a nonce, it's alright what we do to him." Cooper denied this.

He said Cooper had used similar terms when allegedly confessing to the killing of Mr Alderson, all confessions which Cooper denies.

He claimed he had told a woman called Rebecca Johnson from St Austell, who said he had told her he had "killed Mr Alderson because he was a nonce, "and he was bigging himself up," like he had done when boasting of bareknuckle fighting. Cooper said she was lying.

Mr Laws then said Ms Johnson's partner Nigel Banfield had overheard the confession, and asked "is he lying too?" Cooper replied: "Oh yes."

Finally Mr Laws asked about an apparent confession the court had heard about yesterday, from a James Morris - also known as Batty - who claimed Cooper had told him about the murder when they were in prison together.

He said: "You were saying to James that David Alderson had committed a sexual offence against a member of your family. The precise identity of the family member seemed to change a bit."

He said: "You would rather go through your time in prison as someone who killed nonces rather than simply as a vicious thief. That's the position isn't it?

"You don't want to be the man who killed the old man and stole his money. You want to be the nonce killer."

Cooper repeatedly replied: "Not at all."

MR Laws said the fourth person Cooper had confessed to was Trewen Kevern, after Cooper had killed him and Kevern saw the body in the quarry.

Cooper responded: "No. Where he put it. Him at the back. Not me."

The trial continues.