Former boxing professional Shaun Cummins had promised to pay his unofficial carer £1 million from a business venture, a murder jury was told today.
The carer, Tom Dunkley, who denies killing the ex-champion, made the claim during a police interview.
He said Mr Cummins invested £83,500 in a social networking venture, waynesworld.com. The website was set up by Wayne Lineker, brother of former Leicester City star Gary.
During the third day of the trial at Leicester Crown Court today, Dunkley's police interviews following his arrest were read out to the jury.
Dunkley (29) told officers: "Shaun said he'd give me £1 million.
"He said I was a friend helping him out, and no-one else was, and said 'I'll make sure you're looked after.'"
However, Wayne Lineker's venture never got off the ground and Mr Cummins – who was expecting a multi-million pound return - lost his investment, the court heard.
Mr Cummins, who retired from the ring in 1995, was left paralysed from the waist down after a motorbike crash in 2004.
He later received a £400,000 pay-out for his injuries.
The court was told Dunkley gave up his loft insulation job to care for Mr Cummins about a year before his death.
He told police he did not receive any form of payment, despite promises of regular wages and a lump sum.
Dunkley claimed he found the 45-year-old dead, and said he must have died of natural causes.
In interview, Dunkley said he panicked and dismembered the body, putting the parts in two freezers at Mr Cummins' semi-detached bungalow in Marriott Road, Saffron Lane, Leicester.
The body parts were discovered on September 12 last year.
Dunkley, of no fixed address, claimed Mr Cummins had violently bullied him. He said he felt unable to leave, fearing retribution by the ex-boxer's contacts in the criminal world.
He claimed the deceased had threatened to kill his ex-partner and harm his children if he left. He said he had hot coffee and dumb-bells thrown at him and was once bitten on his head.
He told police: "He's a bully.
"He had a hold over me.
"I was scared to do anything or leave the house or upset him.
"Nothing I did was good enough or quick enough."
When police told him a postmortem could establish a cause of death, Dunkley said: "I'm not worried about that because I didn't murder him."
He added: "He was sleeping.
"I suddenly noticed he wasn't moving for a while, but by then he'd gone.
"I think he'd gone the night before."
The officer said: "Another possibility is you watched him die, because if he dies you get your life back and you can get his money."
Dunkley replied: "It never crossed my mind."
Dunkley also described to police how he dismembered Mr Cummins' body.
He said: "Started at about 9-o-clock. Started the chainsaw and started cutting up."
Dunkley said he used rubble sacks to wrap the body parts and secured them with duct tape.
He then set about burning his clothes, shoes and a piece of carpet with blood on it.
He said he finished by about 1 pm.
He told police he put all but two of Mr Cummins' body parts in the freezer.
"I couldn't fit them in," he said. "I had to buy another freezer."
Dunkley said that on the evening of September 13, he drove past Mr Cummins' bungalow and saw police forcing their way in.
He then drove headed for the M1 and drove north, because "I wasn't ready to be arrested".
Dunkley was found sleeping in the car at a service station near Wakefield in the early hours the next day.
He had £149 on him and a further £1,000 in cash in the car, along with Mr Cummins' bank cards and several signed blank trust fund cheques.
Dunkley denies murder and also the theft of Mr Cummins' credit card.
He has pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful burial and four counts of fraudulently using Mr Cummins' bank accounts and cheques from his trust fund, after the death.
The trial continues.
