This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An alleged fraudster met a Bond film actor on the dating app Grindr then killed him with a fatal dose of a chemsex drug, a court has heard.

Gerald Matovu, 25, used a syringe to administer GHB to Eric Michels, 54, at his home in Chessington, London, in August last year. He claims it was consensual.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gerald Matovu. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Michels had a bit part in the film Skyfall and the Old Bailey heard he was one of 12 men targeted by Matovu and his partner, Brandon Dunbar, 23, over a 19-month period.

The prosecution said Matovu and Dunbar’s intention was to steal from and defraud the men they met.

Jonathan Rees QC said: “It is the prosecution case that Matovu killed Mr Michels by administering GHB to him. This involves the use of the syringe.

“We do not say that he intended to kill him, rather he intended to cause him really serious bodily harm by rendering him deeply, and dangerously, unconscious so he could steal property from him and take photographs of his bank cards and other documents containing his personal details.”

In 2010, Michels was divorced from his wife, Diane, with whom he had three children, after he came out as gay. They maintained an amicable relationship.

The jury heard that Michels, who worked for a large energy company, had gone out to gay bars in Soho, central London, on 16 August before going on to Grindr, where he found Matovu.

The pair agreed to go to Michels’ home in south-west London, where the prosecution allege Matovu gave Michels the GHB and, while he was either unconscious or dead, photographed his bank cards, driver’s licence and other personal information.

The next morning Matovu called a taxi and went to Dunbar’s address with a suitcase, bottles of alcohol, and Michels’ laptop, mobile phone, an initialled black case, US driving licence and various cards.

The following day Michels’ body was found by concerned family members with an empty 3ml syringe close by.

Rees told the jury: “The prosecution say that the defendants, often working together, took advantage of hook-ups, dates, arranged with other gay men through apps, such as Grindr, to steal their property and take photographs of their bank cards and other identification documents for the purposes of fraud.

“In the course of their activities, a number of their targets were drugged to facilitate these dishonest activities and one of those, a 54-year-old male, was killed by an overdose of a substance called gamma hydroxybutyrate – GHB.”

Rees told the jury that of the 12 men targeted by the defendants, 10 had property stolen and 11 had photos taken of their bank cards.

Eight men were drugged, five of them by having their drinks spiked.

Matovu, from Southwark, south London, denies murder, six counts of administering a poison or noxious substance to endanger life, one count of assault by penetration and one count of causing actual bodily harm (ABH).

He is further charged with five counts of possession of articles for use in fraud, seven counts of theft, and possession of a controlled drug of class C.

Dunbar, from east London, denies five counts of administering a poison with intent to endanger life, one count of assault by penetration and one count of ABH.

The trial continues.