Image copyright PA Media Image caption Carl Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud

A man accused of lying about a VIP paedophile ring has told a court he saw a school friend deliberately mown down by a car and killed.

Carl Beech, 51, from Gloucester, said after his friend was hit, Mr Beech, a child at the time, was bundled into a car and never saw the other boy again.

He told Newcastle Crown Court he had been too afraid to report what happened, not even telling his dog.

Mr Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.

He is accused of inventing allegations that a group of powerful figures sexually abused and murdered three boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

His allegations led to a £2m Scotland Yard inquiry that ended without any arrests or charges.

In his second day giving evidence, Mr Beech told the jury former prime minister Sir Edward Heath, who died in 2005, had cuddled and comforted him in his yacht cabin when he was upset.

He also accused the late Leon Brittan of raping him over a bath, saying the former home secretary "liked violence" and seeing boys in pain.

'Quiet, like me'

Mr Beech went on to tell the court about the alleged murder, saying he had met a boy he knew "by the name of Scott" in the playground of his Kingston school, in south-west London, in the late 1970s.

The boy was "quiet, like me, but friendly" and the two became friends, meeting once or twice a week, he told the court.

One day he and Scott were walking side by side along the pavement in the Coombe Hill area of Kingston when he heard a loud "engine noise" behind him, the court heard.

"The car hit him - he went over the front of the car and into the road," Mr Beech said.

"I ran over to him. His leg was bent in a funny direction and there was blood on his head," Mr Beech told the court.

He then described being bundled into the back of the car, and trying to kick his way out.

"I remember something in my arm and I don't remember anything else after that," he added.

Mr Beech never saw Scott again, the court heard.

'Figment of imagination'

Asked why he believed the alleged death happened, he said: "I believe because of the threats that were issued that 'the group' was responsible." He describes the alleged VIP paedophile ring as "the group".

He said the late Sir Michael Hanley, a one-time head of MI5, threatened him that he "wasn't to have friends".

He said he could not tell anyone what had happened, adding: "I didn't even say anything to my dog."

Jurors have previously heard Mr Beech claim that Sir Michael was involved in the abduction of his pet dog, Heron.

When defence barrister Collingwood Thompson QC said it had been suggested the alleged hit and run was a figment of his imagination, Mr Beech said: "I know what happened. I was there and I know it took place".

The court has heard that two police forces found no evidence of such an incident ever taking place in the area and had traced and accounted for everyone called Scott from the school.

Strangling allegation

The court also heard allegations of two further murders Mr Beech claims to have witnessed.

In one, he described being taken to a London house in a chauffeur-driven car with another boy.

He told the court Harvey Proctor, the former Conservative MP, opened the front door.

He then claimed that Mr Proctor stabbed and strangled the boy to death. Mr Proctor told the court last month that Mr Beech's allegations against him were false, horrendous and "an absurd fantasy".

Mr Beech said he could not remember how the incident ended and never told anyone out of fear.

He said he later came to believe the allegedly murdered boy was Martin Allen, who went missing in London nearly 40 years ago.

The court has heard police investigated whether Martin was that boy after Mr Beech apparently identified him in a photo shown to him by a BBC reporter.

Mr Beech told jurors the third alleged death occurred when he and three boys were at an alleged London abuse session with Lord Brittan, Mr Proctor and Sir Michael Hanley.

He claimed Sir Michael told the boys one of them would die that night and they had to choose.

The defendant said sexual abuse followed before they singled out one boy. "He was crying and they told him that he could save himself if he chose one of us instead."

He said the child refused to reply so they started hitting him. He claimed the boy ended up "just like a doll - he wasn't moving, he was just left there".

'Snake bite'

In his evidence, Mr Beech also described "pool parties" during which he claimed powerful men frolicked with boys, sometimes performing sexual acts in the water.

He also told jurors about alleged "Christmas parties", in which the boys were the "present" and would be "unwrapped" until they were naked.

Mr Beech said punishments were dished out by his abusers involving snakes and wasps.

He told the jury that on one occasion he was shut in a dark cupboard and a snake was thrown in, which bit him.

The trial continues.