A court heard a man accused of murder was “not in contact with reality” when he killed his 51-year-old victim.

Malachi Lindo, 26, of Bowles Green, Enfield, was charged with the murder of Phillip Steels, who died of severe head injuries after an attack in Green Street in the early hours September 4, 2014.

The 26-year-old admitted to killing Mr Steels but denies the murder charge on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

At the Old Bailey today, Ian Cummings, a psychologist who has worked at Bellmarsh prison for 17 years, spoke about his discussions with Mr Lindo before the incident.

He said: “He had patchy contact with symptoms of depression and anxiety. He had taken treatment for a couple of days and then stopped.

“He had two episodes and reactions with ethalone (MDEA), once a few days before and one a few hours before, this caused an intensive hallucination. He spoke about the fourth dimension, looking on the internet to investigate the significance of numbers.”

When questioned by defence barrister Ian Glen about the mental state of Mr Lindo during the incident, Dr Cummings said: “He was clearly a man not in contact with reality – were he not psychotic this was never have happened.

“He was highly disturbed with all these odd beliefs, it seems very clear that his mental state was highly disorderly and that fits with the observations.

“If he hadn’t take drugs he wouldn’t be here today.”

The psychologist put the incident down to a “drug-induced psychosis” that could possibly be linked to one other diagnoses such as paranoid schizophrenia, yet Dr Cummings said the defendant had underlying symptoms of mental illness.

In the afternoon, the court will hear the closing statements of prosecution barrister Anthony Orchard, Mr Glen before Lord Justice Worseley concludes the case and sends the jury out to consider its verdict.