A 20-YEAR-OLD man accused of murdering a doctor was a regular drug user, a court has heard.

Thomas Connor, of Curtismill Way, St Paul's Cray, is accused of murdering and robbing Dr Nadim Gulamhuseinwala, 32, near Buckingham Palace last July.

Connor told the Old Bailey jury this afternoon he regularly took cocaine and had done so on the night he allegedly attacked Dr Gulamhuseinwala.

Speaking from the witness box, Connor told the court: "It was not the first time I had taken cocaine.

"I had taken it quite a few times before.

"It increases your emotions and makes you talk a lot.

"I think that it makes you more confident."

The court also heard he had smoked crack cocaine and heroin in the past.

Fighting back tears, he added: "I didn't want my family to find out because I didn't want to lose them."

Connor denies murder and robbery, along with William Paton, aged 20, of Clarendon Way, St Paul's Cray.

Connor said the pair had been drinking and snorting cocaine in Bromley town centre before catching a bus to Charing Cross train station.

Connor said they both ended up in a nightclub, downing red wine, lager and alcopops.

Later Connor said he had around £100 stolen from him outside a brothel by a woman posing as a prostitute.

When asked by Nicholas Hilliard, who is defending Connor, why they had agreed to pay for sex, Connor replied: "When we were in Bromley it was considered a last resort.

"If we didn't pull in a club we would get a prostitute."

The prosecution claim Connor and Paton attacked and robbed Dr Gulamhuseinwala to recoup the money they had lost.

It is alleged Connor struck the wealthy doctor and management consultant with a metal railing at 4am on July 25, and that Paton stole the man's phone and wallet.

Dr Gulamhuseinwala died from serious head injuires two weeks after he was attacked.

The trial continues.