A BRUTAL murder in dense woodland started out as a "practical joke", a court heard.

Brothers Mark and James Baigent had planned to "embarrass" their half-brother Andrew Scanlan by stripping him and leaving him somewhere exposed.

But before they could carry out the prank, James Baigent's friend Jeff Woods, 36, brutally strangled Mr Scanlan, then forced the Baigent brothers to help him carry the body further into the forest, Cambridge Crown Court heard on Thursday last week.

James Baigent, 26, of Moore Close, Sandhurst; Mark Baigent, 29, of Medworth, Peterborough, and Jeffrey Woods, 35, of Juniper, Birch Hill, Bracknell, all deny murder.

James Baigent drove to Peterborough to collect his brother on November 17 2006.

But his brother wanted to play a joke on Mr Scanlan, so Mark Baigent concocted the ruse they all had to travel down to Dorset to sort out their mother's will, picking Woods up on the way.

Mark Baigent asked his brother to stop so he could go to the toilet, but needed a dark area because he had a condition which meant he had to hide when urinating. He said he saw a silhouette of Woods and Mr Scanlan struggling and soon realised Mr Scanlan was dead.

He said: "I was stunned, shocked as I approached and witnessed Mr Woods killing my brother. I'm afraid my reactions left me." Woods claimed Mr Scanlan was dead by the time he became involved and told police the Baigent brothers forced him to help bury the body by threatening him.

The trial continues.