Edwin Wilcox began praying as he was pulled to the edge of Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight, but because he prayed for just himself and not his victims, Christopher Thomas pushed him off, Winchester Crown Court was told.

 Thomas, 32, later told police that Wilcox, 64, had abused him between the ages of 11 and 16 and, as he was driven to the clifftop on a stormy, wet night, confessed that he had molested six other boys. Wilcox showed no remorse for what he had done to him or to other boys and Thomas pulled him by his ankles to the edge and pushed him from the cliff in retribution for destroying his life. Afterwards he went home and had a good night's sleep.

 Anthony Donne, QC, prosecuting, told the court that Wilcox's body had never been found. No one had ever seen him again and a scarf containing hairs which matched his was found half way down the cliff.

 Thomas, a labourer, of Prospect Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, denies murdering Wilcox, of The Strand, Ryde, in January last year.

 Mr Donne said that Wilcox was scruffy and eccentric and a promiscuous homosexual with a criminal record. Twelve days after Wilcox had disappeared, Thomas had appeared at the home of Sonia Hackett, a former social worker at a children's home where he had lived.

 He told her he had seen Wilcox in a fish and chip shop and had persuaded him to go in his car with him. When they had reached Culver Down he had started to talk to Wilcox about what he had done to him when he was young and what he thought about it now.

 Mr Donne said: "Thomas said he got quite angry because Eddie Wilcox didn't seem to be bothered about what he had done. He was not apologetic."

 Wilcox had just begged for mercy and that had upset Thomas. He told Miss Hackett that if Wilcox had said he was sorry, he would have left him. "He then told her that, in his own words, he 'lost it' and he pushed him over the cliff."

 Mr Donne said Miss Hackett could not believe what she was told, but when she later saw a story about a missing man of the same name, she went to the police. Thomas told officers: "I threw him over the cliff . . . If you want to go up there I'll show you. There is a skid mark where I had to drag him down."

 Asked how he felt about Wilcox, Thomas had said: "I hate him." Asked how he felt after the killing, Thomas said: "I was surprised at how calm I was. I went home, had a cup of tea and had a good night's sleep."

The case continues.