A chef who fatally stabbed his gay lover carved off part of the dead man’s thigh and seasoned it with fresh herbs before frying the flesh in olive oil, a court heard yesterday.

The act of cannibalism was outlined to a jury at Leeds Crown Court where Anthony Morley, a former holder of the Mr Gay UK title, denies murdering Damian Oldfield, an advertising salesman.

When police went to Mr Morley’s house in the city in April, they found Mr Oldfield corpse, naked and bloodstained, in an upstairs bedroom. Part of the body was missing.

Downstairs in the kitchen, officers found six pieces of cooked human meat on a chopping board. A further piece found in a bin bag had been chewed by the killer, the court was told.

Opening the prosecution, Andrew Stubbs QC said that Mr Morley, 36, was troubled by his sexuality, despite winning the Mr Gay UK title in 1993, and had experienced relationships with both women and men.

Mr Oldfield, 33, sold advertising space for a gay lifestyle magazine. He was openly gay, was “naturally outgoing and bubbly” and was both flirtatious and promiscuous.

The two men, who had been in a past relationship and had known each for a number of years, were seen together in gay bars around Leeds in the weeks leading up to the killing, said Mr Stubbs.

On the afternoon before Mr Oldfield’s death, an exchange of text messages led to an arranged meeting between the two men at a bar in the city centre.

After drinking heavily, they returned to Mr Morley’s house in Leeds, where he prepared a meal for Mr Oldfield before they went upstairs to his bedroom.

When a friend phoned shortly before midnight, Mr Morley “said he couldn’t talk because he was in bed with someone”, said Mr Stubbs.

In the early hours of the following morning, Mr Morley - wearing a white dressing gown and flip flops - walked into a nearby takeaway and asked the staff to contact the police.

He told them that he had killed someone who had tried to rape him, then quietly sat down on the steps, blood on his face, hands and feet, to await officers’ arrival.

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