Alleged murder victim William "Billy Boy" Martindale wasn't the gangster he made himself out to be on the internet.
"He just thought he was one," his partner told a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court where the man said to have killed him is on trial.
Petrina Joseph told the court that after going on the run from the police for 16 years following fraud allegations he had written a book called 'Wanted' and set up a website in the name of "Billy Boy Martindale."
On the website he "boasted about his exploits and portrayed himself as a gangster" she said.
She continued : "It showed him in all sort of poses with friends and associates. The website portrayed Bill as a gangster.
"I don't think he was a gangster. He just thought he was one."
She said that after the incident in which it is alleged he was bludgeoned to death with a pick-axe handle by Paul Groves in a drug dispute she went to the remote Ongar farm where it is said to have happened.
Police were already there she said and she saw Mr Martindale slumped over a table.
Paul Groves, 34, of Queensway, Ongark has pleaded not guilty to murdering 39-year-old Mr Martindale and to wounding 54-year-old Paul Meeking in an alleged frenzy of violence said to have followed a dispute over payment in respect of a cannabis crop.
The hearing continues.
