A jury heard today that the Stevenage scene of a murder was a “blood bath”.

A RENTED room in Stevenage where a Polish man was found dying was a “blood bath”, a jury were told today (Thursday).

The victim, 26-year-old Jaroslaw Kowalski, had been bludgeoned about the head with a heavy dumbbell bar, said prosecutor Michael Speak.

The bakery worker from Nysa had 47 separate injuries on his head, face and body and a fractured skull.

A pathologist found “distinctive” marks on his scalp that matched the end of a weight’s bar found in the room.

Mr Speak said: “His roommate found his friend in a terrible state. It was quite apparent his head had been beaten to a pulp. He was covered in blood and the walls, fridge and wardrobe were spattered with blood. It was like a blood bath, like a horror scene.”

He said the victim died shortly after being found in the room in Vardon Road, Stevenage on July 29 last year.

Two Polish men are on trial at Luton Crown Court where they plead not guilty to murder. They are Marcin Skibicki, 29, of Bute Street, Luton and Pawal Pilipow, 25, of Rye Close, Stevenage.

Pilipow worked at the Allied Bakery in Stevenage with Mr Kowalski.

Skibicki was also a friend of both men, but he worked in Hemel Hempstead for an internet clothing retailer.

Mr Speak said: “The prosecution say the two defendants murdered him in that room for reasons which regrettably remain obscure.”

But he said following their arrests both men blamed the other for committing the violence.

Skibicki admitted he had hit the victim on the nose and urinated on him.

“He said it was something to do with wanting to humiliate him for spreading bad rumours,” said Mr Speak. But Skibicki claimed it was Pilipow who had used the bar to hit the victim, while he tried to stop him.

Pilipow said the other two men had been calling each other names and started to fight. He alleged that Skibicki picked up the dumbbell but was not sure whether he had actually struck Mr Kowalski with it.

The pair had been out the night before drinking heavily in Luton celebrating a birthday and took the bus to Stevenage the following morning, still drinking Polish beer.

The following day Pilipow “coolly” turned up for work at the bakery, pretending nothing had happened but then disappeared.

He went to a police station in Sheffield on August 1 saying he had information about the death of his friend, but was arrested for murder.

Skibicki went to Luton police station on August 6 and was also arrested and questioned.

Another occupant of the shared house was at home at the time of the attack. He told police he heard loud voices and breaking glass but had heard things getting rowdy in that room on previous occasions.

Mr Speak told the jury they would not have to look at photographs of the deceased’s injuries but they were shown “unpleasant” photographs of the room.

The case continues.