Man Beats Friend to Death with Frying Pan For Sleeping With Girlfriend.

A jealous stablehand brutally beat his friend to death with a frying pan after he caught him having sex with his girlfriend.

Bryan Harris, 45, from Newton Abbot, Devon, claimed he had been ‘defending his dignity’ when he battered victim Paul Drury in a prolonged attack that lasted up to 15 minutes.

Exeter Crown Court heard how all three had been staying in the same house when Harris awoke to find his room empty and Miss Lewis moaning.

Harris told the jury: ‘She was moaning in pleasure downstairs and Paul was naked on top of her and they were having sex on the floor of the living room.

‘I said to Paul “what are you doing?”

‘I was shouting and swearing at him. He got off her and we exchanged words. I was very annoyed and hurt and being betrayed by him and Dawn.

‘He told me he loved her too and said I’d used her for money. I told him I loved the girl.’

Harris admitted fighting Mr Drury, who had Asperger's syndrome, and said: ‘I was giving him a hiding to say “keep off my missus”. I had lost all control. I did not realise how badly I had injured him.’

Harris denied using a dented frying pan to carry out the violent attack on 32-year-old Mr Drury before he also left lover Dawn Lewis with serious facial wounds.

Miss Lewis, 46, said Harris has a strong sex drive but had not had sex with her for more than a month after she had had surgery.

She told the jury at Exeter Crown Court that Harris - whom she had only been seeing for a few months - ‘seemed to want it every day’.

Hours before the murder Harris had pestered her for sex but she refused despite his repeated attempts.

She told the jury she cannot recall how she got her injuries and was confused as to whether she had had sex with Harris on that November night.

In police interviews Harris insisted that two men and two women had burst into the house in and launched the attack which he single handedly repelled.

But he later admitted that he was responsible for the assaults on his friend and his lover.

Miss Lewis, who had taken a sleeping tablet, told the court that she could not recall having sex with Mr Drury.

She said: ‘I am almost 100 per cent sure I didn’t sleep with Drury, he was not a sexual person.’

Harris was found guilty of murdering Mr Drury and attempting to cause gbh to Miss Lewis with intent to do her gbh.

Prosecutor Michael Fitton QC said Mr Drury died in a ‘prolonged and brutal attack’ which left him with multiple head and other injuries to his neck, jaw, ribs and ear. He suffered fatal brain wounds.

Harris is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.