A “sinister kidnap kit” was found at the home of the man accused of murdering Mujib Hakim, a jury has been told.

At the start of a trial at St Albans Crown Court today prosecutors described a black laptop bag discovered at the Watford home of 21-year-old Josh Lewis, containing knives, scalpels, face masks and gaffer tap among other items.

Mr Hakim’s body was discovered buried in a shallow grave in Lewis’s garden in Merton Road in August, three months after disappearing.

The 40-year-old, who had mental health problems, had been stabbed 17 times.

The court heard that Mr Hakim was a well known character in Watford and often seen dancing around the town centre to Michael Jackson tracks.

The jury of six men and six women was also told that CCTV footage showed Lewis with Mr Hakim shortly before he disappeared in May.

Lewis has denied murder and possessing a stun gun, but has admitted a charge of obstructing the coroner.

A Harrow man and friend of Lewis’s, Kevin Keegan, of Stroud Gate, also appeared at court charged with obstructing the coroner, which he denies.

At today’s hearing prosecutor Ann Evans said that life had gone downhill for Mr Hakim, who was known as "Hak", before he disappeared on May 27 last year.

As far as anyone knows, Lewis had no connection to Mr Hakim but Mrs Evans said the police had been able to piece together a "disturbing picture" of Josh Lewis preparing to kill a vulnerable individual - Mujib Hakim.

She said that at 4.46pm on May 27 CCTV showed Lewis and Mr Hakim by the Church Street car park in Watford.

Then, at 5pm, CCTV from Market Street showed Josh Lewis crossing the road to walk alongside Hak and then the pair turning around and walking back in the direction of Lewis's house.

Mrs Evans said: "Two hours later, Josh Lewis arrived at Watford A&E complaining of a very deep cut to his left forearm.

"It was during these two hours that prosecutors say he murdered Mujib Hakim back at his home address where days later he buried him in the back garden, helped by Kevin Keegan."

She said that when Lewis went to the hospital he said he had cut himself with a Stanley Knife while trying to fit a stairgate.

Mrs Evans said: "The prosecution say that this is a lie.

“It was Josh Lewis who killed Mujib Hakim some time after the pair were last seen at about 5pm in Watford town centre and during the course of what must have been a terrible struggle, Josh Lewis sustained this serious injury to his arm.

"When the body of Mujib Hakim was eventually uncovered in the back garden, it had 17 stab wounds on it, the majority of which were to his back."

The prosecutor said that Lewis told girlfriend Nola Montgomery that she should not go out of the back door of their home and keep the windows shut because there was a problem with the sewers and they smelt.

Lewis attended the hospital for treatment to his arm, returning home on the 29 May. His friend Kevin Keegan turned up and they went shopping to Wilkinsons coming back, they said, with something to deal with the drain.

Sometime during the night, neighbours Daniel Robinson and Jordan Glancy were woken by a rustling and digging noise.

Mrs Evans said: "Jordan looked into the garden and could see some sort of small torchlight and was also aware of the heads of two people in the garden.

“She could hear the sound of digging, which she said was just behind the bushes. She jokingly suggested to Daniel that it was a body being buried. She was right. It was these two defendants burying the body of Mujib Hakim."

The jury were told that on the 18 July the Watford Observer printed a picture asking for help tracking down a man in connection with Hak's disappearance.

The man was Josh Lewis, who handed himself into the police 10 days later and was interviewed as a significant witness.

Mrs Evans said that at that time his body hadn't been discovered in the defendant's back garden, so there was no reason to arrest him.

He said Lewis told police that Mr Hakim had asked him for a cigarette, to which Lewis had said no and then he had begun singing loudly, something like "check yourself before you wreck yourself."

Police enquiries continued and on the 17 August officers obtained a warrant to search Lewis's home.

On the third day of the search, on the 19 August, Dr Karl Harrison, a forensic archaeologist, found an area of loose ground at the rear of the garden where Mr Hakim had been buried. He had been covered in a curtain, with his feet bound.

Mrs Evans alleged that burying Mujib Hakim in the back garden was not a job for one man, especially as Lewis had a plaster cast on his arm.

She alleged that was why Keegan was involved.

In Lewis' house police found a black laptop bag which Mrs Evans said was "very sinister indeed" and which she described as a “kidnap kit”.

She added: "What the police found inside was a black cloth knife roll containing seven knives of varying sizes, a tazer, a black plastic box with scalpels, a black torch, a roll of heavy duty plastic sacks, an apron, cable ties, gaffer tape, two face masks, a large disposable syringe, disposable gloves and a large plastic sheet.

"What an earth did he want with all of those?

"Mujib Hakim had disappeared without trace. “The scene of his killing leaving hardly any forensic trace. You may think this laptop bag was the perfect gift to carry out such an awful act".

The trial continues.