A MAN has admitted killing Stephen Ojerinola and burying him under a shed in his back garden in Eltham.

The battered body of the 18-year-old was found encased in concrete under a newly-built shed last November.

William Regan, aged 37, of Lynsted Gardens, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the eve of his retrial on November 20.

He had previously admitted unlawful burial but denied murder - claiming self-defence - and was facing a retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in June.

Lee Davies, 36, of Chiswell Square, Blackheath, also pleaded guilty to unlawful burial but was cleared by a jury of murder and manslaughter on June 15.

During the trial, the court heard how the teenager was stabbed, hit with a hammer and baseball bat before being buried beneath rubble and concrete - with a Twix wrapper found discarded in the tomb.

Prosecutor Max Hill told the court the victim had been "mercilessly attacked" in the Lynsted Gardens house around April 12 last year - seven months before police uncovered the body.

Jurors heard Mr Ojerinola was involved with drugs and that addict Regan, who regularly committed burglaries to fund his habit, may have contacted him to buy some.

Former Thomas Tallis pupil Stephen Ojerinola was allegedly a member of the Woolwich Boys gang and the court heard that the two fought after he tried to rob Regan of a £10,000 burglary haul.

Following the death, the house saw a "burst of activity" as a shed, concrete, cladding and other items were purchased and delivered to the property.

Mr Hill said: "He had been placed in that grave to rot."

The victim had five stab wounds below his lower jaw, stab wounds to the chest, arm and above his collar bone, along with a depressed fracture of the skull.

The pair will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 17