An Irish man was beaten to death, stripped naked and dumped in a skip after trying to "chat up" one of his killers, a court has heard.

Michael Hunt, 37, was punched and kicked by Fiona Nalty, 24, and Arry Green, 21, who then left him for dead in an alleyway in South Norwood, prosecutors told the Old Bailey today.

Miss Nalty, of Fairdene Road, Coulsdon, and Mr Green, of Whitehorse Road, South Norwood, are accused of murdering Mr Hunt on March 14 this year.

The pair allegedly laughed as they punched and kicked Mr Hunt, of Holmesdale Road, before stripping him "as an act of humiliation"

His body was found in a builder's skip the next morning with so many wounds "it was difficult to see where one injury ended and another began," said prosecutor David Jeremy.

Mr Hunt, described as friendly and non-confrontational by friends, suffered a severe brain injury compared by a pathologist to those sometimes inflicted on boxers.

The jury heard three witnesses are thought to have seen Miss Nalty and Mr Green attacking Mr Hunt, who moved to Croydon from Co. Waterford six years ago and had been drinking with his alleged killers on the night he died.

Mr Jeremy said: "A minor disagreement lead to the defendants taking Mr Hunt into an alleyway off South Norwood High Street and literally punching and kicking him to death.

"They stripped his body naked apart from a bandana that he wore around his neck and dumped his body in a builder's skip, where it was found the next morning."

Mr Hunt, described as friendly and non-confrontational by friends, suffered a severe brain injury compared by a pathologist to those sometimes inflicted on boxers.

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The alley where Mr Hunt was found

Mr Hunt, known as "Irish Mick" by friends in South Norwood, left the house he shares with his mother early in the evening of March 14, promising to ring her to let her known when he would be home.

He then met two friends at a third friend's flat, where they drank beer and smoked crack cocaine before Mr Hunt left alone to drink in his local pub, the Portmanor.

Landlord Geoff Charles told police he had seen Mr Hunt talking to Arry Green and another man outside the pub at about 1am, describing the atmosphere as "amicable".

Soon after, Mr Hunt bought lager from an off licence, accompanied by both defendants and a 15-year-old boy. By this time Mr Hunt and Mr Green were arguing, the jury heard.

Vijay Kumar, the shop's manager, told police both Arry Green and Fiona Nalty seemed drunk and that Mr Hunt appeared to "drunkenly trying to chat up" Fiona Nalty.

The group were next seen at Couriers Car, a taxi rank in Station Road, where the court heard staff denied a Miss Nalty's request for a cab because she was drunk.

Mr Jeremy told the jury both Miss Nalty and Mr Green became aggressive, shouting at the taxi controller and spitting beer at him. Staff said Mr Hunt was not aggressive and tried to calm the pair down.

The prosecutor said: "After they had left the taxi controller looked out onto the street and saw Miss Nalty punching Mr Hunt to the face more than once and push him around. He was not retalitating."

The court heard that just over an hour later a woman saw from her second-floor flat Miss Nalty kicking Mr Hunt as he lay on the floor.

Mr Jeremy told the court: "She saw a male and a female in the street with their arms around each other's necks. She then saw the couple toppled to the floor. The female got up and started kicking towards the head of the male who had been on the floor with her.

"At that point another male appeared and helped up the male on the floor. As she did so the witness heard the words, "Let's go down here and sort this out", referring to the alleyway.

"In a sense, that's exactly what they did. They went down the alleyway and sorted him out."

The court heard the teenager accompanying the group, who will give evidence by videolink later this week, told police Mr Green did not like Miss Nalty and Mr Hunt "grappling".

Mr Jeremy said: "This was apparently because Nalty was a girl, although it was apparent that she was the aggressor and the one who landed all the blows. So Arry then punched Mr Hunt.

"They ended up in the alleyway where he had seen Fiona Nalty kicking Mr Hunt to the head as he lay on the floor. He thought he saw Mr Green kicking him as well, but had only a glimpse of that as it was so nasty that he looked away.

"Mr Hunt did not hit anyone. All he tried to do was protect himself, but every time he tried to get up he was kicked again. 

"The teenager heard Mr Hunt shouting 'stop, please stop'. He could not face what he saw and walked away. He remembered Miss Nalty laughing as he did so."

The jury was told the teenager heard Miss Nalty, who he noticed had blood on her foot, saying something like "we fucked him bad" as the two attackers left the alley.

The court heard they warned him not to tell anyone what he had seen and both disposed of their shoes - which have never been found - after the attack.

Mr Hunt was found in the skip by a member of the public at around 7am on March 15. He died later that morning at Kings College Hospital after going into cardiac arrest.

Mr Green was arrested two days later at a house in Purley, where police found clothes stained by Mr Hunt's blood in a bin bag, and Miss Nalty was arrested in Brighton on March 20. Both had moved from their usual addresses since Mr Hunt's death.

Both defendants deny murder. The trial continues.