One of the panellists of popular BBC quiz show Egghead has claimed he may have killed a man while he lived on the streets two decades ago.

CJ de Mooi, one of the five Eggheads, said he punched a man who approached him with a knife, then threw him into a canal in Amsterdam in 1988.

In an extract from his autobiography, published in the Daily Mirror, he wrote: "He caught me on the wrong day and I just snapped."

He added: "I fully suspect I killed him. I've no idea what happened to him."

The paper reported that police in the city are now investigating the incident.

De Mooi also described how he became a prostitute in London and then Amsterdam when he found himself homeless and penniless in his late teens.

The 45-year-old became a panellist on the BBC Two show, which features five quiz champions competing as a team against different challengers, in 2003, having appeared on and won a series of gameshows.