A New Age traveller denied that he and two other men intended to teach a Portuguese man a lesson when they beat him with an iron bar and left him to die in a field near their caravan site last year.

One of three New Age Travellers accused of the murder of a Portuguese national told gardaí he intended to force the deceased off a campsite but did not realise the extent of his injuries when he dragged him to a field where he later died.

Three new age travellers had a "tacit agreement" to remove a Portuguese man from a caravan site when they allegedly beat him to death, a prosecution lawyer told a murder trial jury today.

Three British men are due to go on trial tomorrow charged with the murder of a Portuguese man whose badly beaten body was discovered near a popular scenic beach last year.