Published: 27/07/2010 18:21 - Updated: 27/07/2010 18:41

 Law student Mark Alexander murdered his father and disposed of the body to "live the life he wanted to lead" jurors heard yesterday.

 

The 22-year-old is standing trial at Reading Crown Court following the discovery of the dismembered body of his 70-year-old father Samuel in Drayton Parslow.

 

Reading Crown Court heard yesterday how Mr Alexander allegedly attempted to dismember the body with a saw and then burned it, before burying it under four layers of concrete.

 

He is then said to have formed an elaborate plot to conceal the murder, including sending Christmas cards to neighbours 'from Samuel and Mark' - even though Samuel was already dead.

 

John Price QC, prosecuting, told the court Samuel had been dead for five months before his body was discovered in the garden of his £500,000 home in Prospect Place in February.

 

Mr Price said: "The Crown alleges his son Mark killed him and disposed of the body.

 

"Then, with his father out of the way, he could live the life he wanted to lead, which the Crown suggests he knew his father would never permit while he was alive."

 

The high-flying law student, who was educated at the £27,000-per-year Rugby School, is said to have struggled with his father's expectations and control following his move to Fleet Street to attend the prestigious London University.

 

The court heard how Samuel was ambitious for his son, boasting to neighbours in August 2009 that Mr Alexander was due to go to Sorbonne University in Paris as part of his studies.

 

Mr Price said: "To Samuel it would have appeared that Mark was an obedient and dutiful son.

 

"But the Crown says that Mark was not able to properly challenge him in a mature, adult way over the control his father exercised over him."

 

On February 4, residents in the small hamlet of Drayton Parslow submitted a dossier to police as they had not seen Samuel for several months, also explaining they had not been reassured by Mark Alexander's assurances.

 

Buckinghamshire Social Serivces, which was caring for retired English lecturer Samuel, got in touch with Mr Alexander the next day.

 

Mr Price said: "He replied that he was in regular contact with his father, and he had contacted him recently by e-mail about a burst water pipe."

 

The social service worker asked him why his father had not been answering neighbours' concerns, and he replied: "What can I do if my father decides not to contact them?"

 

After his arrest on February 5, he told police he had last seen his father just before Christmas, but when quizzed, his girlfriend Senta Nazarbekova said he told her he had seen his father in February.

 

She is due to give evidence for the prosecution at a later date.

 

Mr Alexander denies murder, disposing of a body to prevent an inquest, and two offences of perverting the course of justice.