An eccentric multimillionaire was beaten to death in a vain attempt to get him to reveal where he kept hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash around his home, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday.
William John Saunderson-Smith, 58, who was known as John, was found in the attic bedroom of a house he was renovating in Dewhurst Road, West Kensington, London, in October last year.
He was allegedly bludgeoned to death by three Polish builders who later fled the country, jurors heard.
One of them told police they took £2,000 but officers later found they missed £225,000 hidden in and around the bedroom, and a further £100,000 at another property in Fulham.
Aftab Jafferjee QC, prosecuting, said: "Mr Saunderson-Smith, though reclusive and scruffy in appearance, was no ordinary occupant of this west London house.
"He was in fact a very wealthy property developer who owned various addresses in the west London area.
"He had plainly retired to bed. He was obviously taken by surprise - the range and extent of his injuries being far beyond anything required merely to subdue him, which suggests a beating to get him to reveal where his money was before he was finally finished off."
Mr Jafferjee said Mr Saunderson-Smith had been struck at least 12 times to the head with two separate weapons, and had bruises on other parts of his body.
Slawomir Bugajewski, 39, and Dawid Rymar, 24, both of Acton, west London, and Ireneusz Mydlarz, 37, of Edgware, north London, deny murder.
The defendants had worked for Mr Saunderson-Smith in the past but were not working for him at the time of the killing, the court heard.
Rymar and Bugajewski had gone to Victoria coach station in the middle of the night and left for Poland via Paris where they posed for pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, the court heard.
Mydlarz flew to Poland from Luton airport after going on a spending spree, said counsel.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.
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