A TEENAGER was waterboarded and tortured like a terrorist two days before he killed a man, a court heard.

Joseph Smith has admitted manslaughter but denies the murder of 44-year-old carer Michael Beckwith in Harwich.

Tyrone Smith QC, defending, said: "You might think in this court the only person who has had the fibre, stomach and guts to accept he has done anything criminal is Joe Smith."

Mr Smith QC told the court the teen accepts his part in the attack, with metal poles, but said he only hit a car, never intended to cause serious injury and was groomed by a man he thought was a friend.

Yesterday Chelmsford Crown Court heard Smith, who has a very low IQ, was effectively homeless by June but social services decided he was too physically and emotionally immature to go into a YMCA aged 17.

By July 29 he had a new girlfriend and went to see co-defendant Scott Swift, at the home of the Biddlecombes in Harwich, where he was allegedly tortured by Swift.

Mr Smith QC said: "He was waterboarded. A method of torture used against terrorists."

He told the jury: "Imagine what it would take for you to do that to a friend.

Mr Smith QC claimed Swift threatened the teenager with weapons, put a bag over his head, buried him and put lighter fuel under his nose while pouring water on him so he thought it was fuel, Mr Smith QC claimed Joseph Smith was manipulated and groomed before going to the radar tower off Barrack Street on July 31.

It is alleged Joseph Smith was there and armed but did not actually hit Mr Beckwith.

He claimed Swift may have told the teen they were going to attack a man but Swift was a fantasist who made up stories all the time.

Mr Smith QC said the jury cannot be sure Joseph Smith ever intended to cause really serious harm to the victim and therefore cannot be guilty of murder.

It is alleged Mr Beckwith was lured to the scene by ex-girlfriend Rebecca Ryan while two men lay it wait.

It is alleged Scott Swift, another of Ryan’s ex-partners and Smith beat him with metal bars.

Mr Beckwith, of Goodlake Close, Dovercourt, was rushed to Colchester General Hospital. He died on August 2.

Swift, 27, of Station Road, Dovercourt, Smith, 18, of Canning Street, Harwich, and Ryan, 22, of Hilltop Rise, Weeley, all deny murder.

Triston Biddlecombe, 24, and wife, Enderlein, 20, both of East Street, Harwich, deny assisting alleged offenders Swift and Smith by washing and burning their clothes and perverting the course of justice by providing police with a false alibi for Swift. The trial continues.