A drug addict has denied having any sexual contact with body-in-the-suitcase victim Terry Edmonds - or anything to do with her death.

Homeless Philip Bell was in a car park stairwell at the same time the prosecution say the 17-year-old victim was sexually assaulted there and strangled with her own scarf.

But he claimed he saw nothing during a "lost hour" in which he and Terry disappeared from CCTV cameras.

Bell claimed he got through more than 7g of cannabis during that time in Morrison's car park, where he slept rough, next to Tunbridge Wells railway station.

The 23-year-old former removal man was giving evidence today at a retrial at Maidstone Crown Court.

He was asked to account for his movements on the day Terry, who lived at a nearby hostel, died - Easter Bank Holiday Monday, April 17 2006.

Bell said he got up from his bedding in stairwell four in the afternoon. He went to see a friend at his house, where he "built a spliff".

He later went to Calverley Park and met his ex-girlfriend Sarah Shaw. They went to the Soup Bowl to eat.

Bell said he and Miss Shaw had a row about a flint in a lighter and he walked off. He went into the town to a phone box and sent texts, one to Miss Shaw to say he was sorry he "went over the top".

The prosecution allege Bell killed Terry between 6.30pm and 7.30pm. They were on a "collision course", being seen on CCTV within two seconds of each other, as Terry walked out of the train station.

Bell was seen on the footage going into the car park at 6.23pm. He said he went to stairwell four to go to his bed.

Asked by his QC Alun Jenkins if he saw anybody else, he replied: "I didn't really pay much attention. I might have done. I didn't notice any people around at all.

"It was a quiet area. I heard some voices at the top but I didn't see anyone."

He got into his bedding, he said, wearing a T-shirt, boxer shorts and socks.

"I rolled a spliff," he told the jury of seven women and five men. "I had just over 7g of cannabis. I can't tell how much I used." He also smoked the drug in a "bong".

"It got me a bit stoned," he said. "I would have been sitting down and passed out if I smoked that now. I was in a better mood. I stayed in the car park about an hour."

Bell, who admitted dealing in drugs, said he did not see anybody else when he left the car park at 7.17pm. He went to a friend's house and smoked some more spliffs.

He denies murder. The trial continues on Monday.