TWO men accused of murder referred to themselves as characters from the Harry Potter series, a court heard.

A jury at Winchester Crown court was told that Stuart Raymond Wareham, 26, and Benjamin Henry Walter, 22, exchanged letters while in custody and waiting for trial.

The two men, as well as Stuart’s half-brother Lee Raymond Wareham, 33, are accused of murdering paedophile Geoffrey Reed, 57, at his flat in Cecil Road, Boscombe, in June last year.

Stuart Wareham, Walter and Mr Reed lived together in a one-bedroom flat with Daniel Anderson and Tiffany Maidment. Stuart Wareham told police they were all “best friends” and he and Benjamin were “friends with benefits”.

In one letter from Stuart Wareham to Walter, Mr Reed is referred to as “Voldemort”, Potter’s arch-nemesis, because he is “evil [and] twisted” and “ruins people’s lives”, the court heard.

He also wrote that while Walter was Harry Potter, he was like Ron Weasley as he had a big family, while Lee Wareham was Remus Lupin, a werewolf, the jury was told.

Stuart Wareham also compared all three defendants to “the three musketeers”, and wrote: “All for one and one for all lol”, the prosecution said.

He also wrote a series of poems, including one that threatened their former flatmate Daniel Anderson, who called the police to report a murder, the court heard.

It included the lines: “My bro has got my gun/he wants revenge and wants some fun.”

In other letters to family members, Stuart insisted he played no part in causing Mr Reed’s death, although admitted hitting him first, it was said.

The jury was told he wrote to sister Charlene: “We all played our part in it – if I hadn’t hit him first to make him fall on the floor, Lee and Henry [Walter] would not have stamped on him.”

In a letter to another sister, Kelly, the jury was told he wrote: “We all made a pact to say nothing, no matter what happens,” adding: “I know I have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

However, in Walter’s final interview with police officers, read in court, he said Stuart Wareham was responsible for the murder.

He said Stuart Wareham grabbed Mr Reed by the neck and attacked him, and he stated that he heard five “thudding” noises while he was in the bathroom before he saw Mr Reed dead on the floor.

Later, he said he saw blood coming from Mr Reed’s ear, and said it was “like something had been put in there”.

He added: “It could have been a screwdriver.”

Walter told police he had put on Mr Reed’s coat and trainers before walking around the block and coming back into the flat through the bedroom window.

He said: “I was told to walk out as him so it didn’t look like a murder – so it looked like he’d gone away.”

After the murder, Walter told police he’d asked Stuart Wareham: “How can you live with yourself with what you’ve done?”, to which Wareham replied: “Easy.”

“I just think of the children’s lives he ruined.”

All three of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder. The trial continues.