A TENANT who bludgeoned a former Pembroke Dock man to death in Swansea and dumped his body 140 miles away has been convicted of murder.

Former Pembroke Grammar School pupil Alec Warburton, 59, was hit in the back of the head with a weapon by David Craig Ellis at his Sketty home in July 2015.

His body was found in a disused quarry in north Wales last September.

Ellis, 41, was found guilty of murder at Swansea crown court yesterday, June 22, and is due to be sentenced today.

Ellis had admitted killing Mr Warburton, but claimed it was following sexual advances from him.

The trial heard Mr Warburton had three major skull defects, but there was no sign of any defensive injuries.

After murdering him, Ellis drove Mr Warburton’s car with his landlord’s body in the boot to north Wales.

He dumped the body in a disused slate quarry.

Ellis returned home before catching a ferry to Northern Ireland and travelling into Ireland, where he eventually was arrested by the Garda. He confessed to the Garda where he had dumped Mr Warburton’s body.

Concern for Mr Warburton's safety was first raised on August 1 last year by his older brother, Graham.

He told Swansea Crown Court that the siblings grew up in Pembroke Dock before he left to join the Royal Navy and the younger sibling went to college in Swansea.

Mr Warburton was described as very quiet in class by fellow Pembroke Grammar School pupils.

Graham Warburton said the brothers would speak by phone "mostly every day" but at the end of July last year the calls abruptly stopped.

After three days of unanswered calls to his younger brother on mobile and landline, he called police in Swansea.

Forensic pathologist Brian Rodgers told the court the wounds to the head had been made by a heavy object such as a hammer, and that in his view the position of the injuries in the back of the skull and the lack of defensive wounds on Mr Warburton's arms meant the fatal encounter may have been a "surprise" attack and from behind.

Christopher Clee QC for the prosecution told the court: "He [Ellis] embarked on a plan to kill Mr Warburton - and he did so in the most vicious manner.

"He callously disposed of the body, and told lie after lie to cover his tracks."