A FORMER drug addict has admitted to killing a man during a relapse.

Richard Waterhouse, of Golden Noble Hill, Colchester, was due to stand trial for the murder of Paul Olney but admitted manslaughter when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court, which was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Olney was stabbed to death at his home in Denham Close, Wivenhoe in June.

Catherine Bradshaw, mitigating for Waterhouse said: “Drug taking was present on both sides by Mr Olney and Mr Waterhouse at this incident and leading up to it.

“He has had his battles with drugs and most of his previous offences have been when he has been battling drug issues.

“He had managed to stabilise his life quite a bit and things settled down but there was the occasional relapse and June 6 was one of those.”

Judge Patricia Lynch QC said she would sentence Waterhouse, 31, on Friday after victim impact statements were sought from Mr Olney’s family.

Addressing him, she said: “I am sure you understand everybody needs to be feel as comfortable as they can we dealing with this sort of sentence.

“We will deal with this on Friday.”

Police were called to the property shortly before 3.50pm on June 6 after Paul’s mother found him in an upstairs bedroom.

He is believed to have died earlier that day, possibly sometime between 4am and 6am that morning.

Waterhouse, Mr Olney and another man had been taking drugs together in the hours before he was killed.

There was a disagreement and Paul ended up being stabbed in the left shoulder. The 35-year-old’s body was found later that day.

The knife was never found and Waterhouse was arrested near the scene shortly after.

A 37-year-old man from Colchester was also arrested but he was later released without charge.

Speaking at the time of his death, Paul’s mother Joyce, said that his loss was ‘heart-breaking and had devastated the whole family’.

DCI Stephen Jennings, Senior Investigating Officer, said: “Today’s plea has at least spared Mr Olney’s family the trauma of having to endure a trial. Waterhouse has accepted that he lost control and went over the top, unlawfully killing Paul Olney. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”