A retired fireman bludgeoned his own son to death with a scaffolding pole and then tried to dump his body in the Thames near Deptford - only to find the tide was out, a court heard.

Colin McSweeny, 59, lured Shaun McSweeny into the garage of their South Norwood home and murdered him in a "desperate but deliberate" attack on November 20, it is alleged.

He then left the 24-year-old's body to entertain a police officer friend just metres away in their living room, a prosecutor told the Old Bailey this afternoon.

McSweeny was caught by police after he was spotted in the early hours of the morning trying - and failing - to drop the body into the Thames at Deptford Wharf while the "tide was against him".

He was found with his son's body wrapped in a tarpaulin in the boot of his car, the court heard.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, told the jury: "This case is as terrible as it is tragic. No doubt you will find this hard to take in.

"The prosecution allege that the defendant killed his son deliberately. It may have been hastily conceived and ill thought-out but it was nonetheless done deliberately.

"Sadly, in his own mind the defendant had every reason to wish his son dead.

"Having murdered his son, the defendant intended to dispose of his body in such a way as might mean that it was never found or, if it was, that Shaun's death could not be linked to him.

"In the event, of course, getting rid of the body turned out to be rather more difficult than he had imagined and the plan quickly unravelled.

"Nevertheless, that does not detract from the cold-blooded way in which the defendant murdered his son."

On the night of the murder, 24-year-old Shaun bought a kebab after work and sat in his van eating it outside the home where he lived with his parents.

The defendant allegedly lured him into the garage and repeatedly hit him over the head from behind with a scaffolding pole, fracturing his skull.

When police searched the garage, they found the weapon wrapped in cling film as well as a tarpaulin which had been laid on the floor.

After killing Shaun, McSweeny moved his son's work van from outside the house to about half a mile away so the police officer friend - who was due to visit - did not spot it.

Sarah Lavington had gone to the house in Parry Road with flowers and chocolates to celebrate Mrs McSweeny's 60th birthday a couple of days earlier.

Mr Aylett said: "What followed can only really be described as surreal - while Shaun's body lay in the defendant's garage, he and his wife entertained a police officer in their living room."

McSweeny made the visitor a cup of tea and he and his wife sat chatting and told her funny stories for a couple of hours, the court heard.

When Mrs Lavington made to leave at 11.15pm, Mrs McSweeny said she had no idea where Shaun was, saying he would probably come home drunk and "tread mud all the way up the stairs".

Mr Aylett said: "The defendant, of course, would have known only too well where Shaun was. Now he had to get his body out of his garage."

Shaun's van was driven further away from the house from its temporary hiding place to around a mile and a half from Parry Road as the crow flies.

The court heard how, some time after 2.30am, a man in a flat overlooking Deptford Wharf saw a large black car pulling up.

The witness said a white-haired man got out and opened and shut the boot before driving off, and shortly afterwards he returned and dragged what looked like a body by the ankles.

The man was said to have returned to the car to retrieve a piece of tarpaulin and went back to where he apparently left the body and dragged it to the wall alongside the waterfront.

The witness said that when the man tried to lift the object over the wall, it was clear it was a body, and he called police just before 3am to report it.

Before he got off the phone, the driver had dragged the body back to the car and driven off.

Mr Aylett said: "It would seem that the tide must have been against the defendant."

En route to the scene, Inspector Simon James saw a black 4x4 vehicle going in the opposite direction and went in pursuit.

After the car was stopped by police in Evelyn Street, Deptford, the defendant was asked by an officer if he knew why he had been stopped.

He replied: "Yes."

He was then asked: "What have you got in the car?"

He replied: "A body."

Officers uncovered Shaun's body lying on a heavily bloodstained tarpaulin in the boot.

When asked if anyone else had come to harm, McSweeny said: "No, there's only one body you have to worry about."

A search of Deptford Wharf uncovered blood traces on the wall, a piece of tarpaulin, one of Shaun's shoes and a trail of coins and buttons along the route where his body had been dragged.

Mr McSweeny's wife Gloria, who adopted Shaun with her husband when he was six, was also arrested following his death but not charged.

Mr McSweeny denies murder and claims he killed his son in self-defence.