Michael Swan, 45, and Gary Beech, 48, are accused of killing Ian Tomlin, 46

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Two men have appeared in court charged with the murder of a 46-year-old man in south-west London.

Michael Swan, 45, and Gary Beech, 48, appeared at Wimbledon magistrates court over the death of Ian Tomlin.

Tomlin died from a head injury after an incident in a communal area of a block of flats in Charlotte Despard Avenue, Battersea, on Wednesday.

Beech, of Charlotte Despard Avenue, and Swan, of Wandsworth, were charged on Friday.

Both appeared in court on Saturday morning wearing grey custody tracksuits and were flanked by two members of security staff.

They spoke only to confirm their names, addresses, dates of birth and nationalities during the brief hearing.

The magistrate Kevin Hearn remanded the men into custody until a hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan police said a postmortem examination carried out on Friday afternoon revealed Tomlin died from a head injury “caused by blunt force trauma”.