A HORRIFIED teenager who discovered the badly burnt body of a dead man first thought it was a Guy Fawkes dummy, a court heard.

Details of the horrific discovery of the body on moorland north of Bolton by two young boys were told to a hushed courtroom.

Teenager Adam Wood first spotted the site of the fire and initially thought it had been a Guy Fawkes bonfire, but, when he got closer, he saw the body.

A written statement from the 15-year-old was read to a Liverpool Crown Court jury on the fourth day of the trial of 36-year-old Tasawar Hussain, of Bromwich Street, The Haulgh, Bolton.

Hussain has pleaded not guilty to murdering 24-year-old father of four Shaddaz Fayyaz on November 10 last year.

It is alleged that he battered Mr Fayyaz, his lover's husband, to death with hammer blows to his head and face in the field and then set fire to his body using petrol.

His 22-year-old nephew Imran Khan has claimed that later that evening Hussain arrived in Blackpool, where Khan works, for a change of clothing and a shower.

He then burnt out his Nissan Micra car and got Khan to give him a lift back to Bolton and en route confessed to killing Mr Fayyaz, whose nickname was "Skinner".

Charles Garside, QC, prosecuting, read the statement of Adam Wood to the jury in which he told how he and a 14-year-old friend went out for a ride on their mountain bikes on November 11.

They headed towards Rivington and went up Georges Lane, Horwich, where they stopped for a chat. They decided to ride on and about 3O metres and as he passed some bushes he saw what he thought was a pile of burnt wood.

He became suspicious because of the burnt grass and thought he saw a Guy Fawkes so got off his bike, "I jumped down and went over and when I got right up I saw the body. It was laid on its back with its right leg straight out and the left leg bent up and the arms across the chest."

The boy said he could see it was a man's body and the head was covered in blood. "I tapped the leg to see if it was real, to see whether it was a prank. I then went back to the road to stop a car."

A motorist did stop and the other boy, Liam Worthy, gave the man his mobile phone to call the police, who arrived about 15 minutes later.

In police interviews Hussain explained that he had been having an affair with Fayyaz's wife, Khatija, for about two years. He said that Fayyaz used to beat her up though he did try to stop him by suggesting he go for a walk when he was angry instead of hitting her.

He said Fayyaz was angry when he found out about their affair and while Hussain was on holiday in Turkey with her and her three daughters Fayyaz set fire to his car damaging his car port, garage and house.

Khatija moved to Scotland and he regularly visited her, but shortly before the murder they had both decided to return to their partners. His wife had left him but she had returned the week before the murder.

Hussain said that he and Khatija were going to continue their relationship "but keep it quiet."

(Proceeding)