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A man confessed to killing his flatmate after visiting a tarot card reader who turned over the 'death card', a court heard.

Star Randel-Hanson, 49, stabbed his housemate Derick Marney, 70, and left his body lying on their kitchen floor.

Ten days later, he visited tarot card reader Jayne Braiden and asked for a psychic reading, admitting he had done something "terrible", Lewes Crown Court heard.

When she turned over the 'death' card, Randel-Hanson allegedly confessed and Braiden called police.

But the police operator told her it was "not a 999 call" and insisted she redial 101, the non-emergency number.

Ms Braiden and Randel-Hanson laughed at being made to wait by police who eventually arrived 55 minutes later, a jury was told.

Randel-Hanson denies murder and insists that he accidentally stabbed Mr Marney while turning around with a knife in his hands.

After the tarot reader's call, Randel-Hanson was arrested and police searched his flat in Brighton, East Sussex, and found Mr Marney's blood-soaked body slumped against the radiator in their kitchen with an eight-inch bloodied knife next to him.

The court heard Randel-Hanson and Mr Marney, a spiritual medium, lived together and shared the same bed but were not a couple or lovers.

They met at the Brotherhood Gate Spiritualist Church in Brighton in 2013 and Mr Marney invited Randel-Hanson to move in with him for "company."

The defendant claims Mr Marney made unwelcome sexual advances on him and sexually abused him on three occasions.

(Image: PA)

Prosecutor James Mulholland QC told the jury how Randel-Hanson visited tarot reader Jayne Braiden on May 4: "The pair sat down in her small reading room, facing each other. He shuffled 10 cards.

"As he began to turn over certain cards it became apparent to her [Braiden] that they began to reveal something strange."

Ms Braiden told the court: "The first card was the 'blasted tower'. That means lots of arguments, lots of bad feelings.

"Then there was 'the emperor', which signified a dominant male. Then there was the 'death card'."

She said she told Randel-Hanson she could "see that something really bad has happened and that we need to discuss this further."

"He said: 'It's really bad'."

"I said to him we need to talk about everything that has happened.

"And that is when he told me... he said that he had killed him."

Ms Braiden said she dialled 999 and told the operator: "I have a man in my shop and I know it is going to be hard to believe but I have just seen that he has murdered someone."

Ms Braiden told the court how the operator replied: "OK, it's not a 999 call I am afraid. It is a 101 [the non-emergency number] call."

Although Miss Braiden insisted Randel-Hanson had admitted killing him and told her the body had not yet been found, the operator listed the call as grade two.

Miss Braiden kept him talking while they waited for police, she said: "We changed subjects and laughed at the time police were taking."

The trial continues.