DAVID Ryan spent the night drinking cocktails with a friend the night after he allegedly killed Diana Lane, a court heard.

Giving evidence at Chester Crown Court on June 14, Ryan’s friend of more than a decade, Kenneth Gale, described how they drank three or four pints and then cocktails of Ryan’s design at the Griffin pub, in Bowdon, on August 10.

Brian Cummings QC, prosecuting, asked Mr Gale if Ryan mentioned that a friend of his had been killed the previous day, he replied that he had not and that he seemed ‘fine, normal’.

Mr Gale said that he and the defendant stayed at the pub for four or five hours which was unusual, as they would only normally have ‘one or two pints’.

Mr Gale told the court that Ryan’s house and car were repossessed in 2008 when he ran into financial difficulties and that the defendant would often borrow money from Mr Gale.

He said that Ryan normally borrowed around £50 or £60 and would repay him the following week, but he once lent Ryan £1000 and the pair fell out when Ryan took a long time to pay the money back.

Mr Gale said that around Christmas 2011, Ryan told him he had suddenly come into a large amount of money, approximately £20,000, but when asked where he got it from he touched his nose as if to imply it was none of Mr Gale’s business.