A teenager accused of murdering two "harmless" homeless men as they slept in a hut may have acted with others, a jury has heard.

Darronte Dill, 19, is alleged to have played a part in killing Maxwell Brangman, who was hit in the head and face and stabbed four times.

He's also said to have been involved in killing Frederick Gilbert, who was stabbed 13 times.

The body of 57-year-old Mr. Brangman was subsequently set on fire in the hut, which is located near the Black Horse Tavern in St. David's.

His friend Mr. Gilbert, 53, managed to escape into the nearby water before dying of injuries sustained in the attack in the early hours of September 21 2008.

Opening the case against Dill yesterday at Supreme Court, Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field said: "The prosecution are saying that there may well have been one or more other persons involved in the killings that night and they are obviously not in the dock.

"Now if you come to the decision that the defendant was not acting alone and in fact was acting with one or more other persons, the fact he's alone in the dock in no way exonerates him or says he isn't guilty."

Mr. Field told the jury the victims lived for at least part of the year in the St. David's area.

He described Mr. Brangman as "a popular local character" who did odd jobs and slept in the hut during the summer months.

He described Mr. Gilbert as "a bit of a free spirit of no fixed abode" who wandered around the Island but also slept in the same hut, or a boat moored nearby.

"They also liked to have a drink," he explained. "The two men were friends. Darronte Dill was a young man who seems to have gone out looking for trouble that night and the Crown has already suggested he wasn't alone that night.

"The Crown say the defendant attacked the men in the early hours of the morning while they were sleeping in the concrete hut."

He told the jury the victims had been drinking and would have presented to anyone entering the hut as "two harmless men asleep".

He continued: "The Crown say the defendant took an active part in what happened and was part of an attack on both men.

"During the attack, Mr. Brangman was stabbed several times to the torso as well as stabbed to the neck and he received blunt impact facial and head trauma.

"That means blows to the face and head. And in fact he died of those facial and head injuries together with inhalation of blood due to the facial injuries as well as the multiple stab wounds as well as internal bleeding.

"And it's said that the defendant either on his own or with whoever he was with set fire to the body of Mr. Brangman using books and things which were lying around in the hut."

Mr. Field explained that Mr. Gilbert was stabbed in the chest, which penetrated a lung and caused fatal internal bleeding.

"Before he died he was able to get out of the hut and make a partial escape to the water and managed to get into the water, trying to get away from the killer or killers, but he did not survive the attack and died of his wounds."

The Police and fire services were alerted to a fire at the hut around 5 a.m. and the burned body of Mr. Brangman was discovered inside.

The body of Mr. Gilbert was found the next day, September 22, floating in the water nearby.

Dill, of Fentons Drive, Pembroke, was arrested on September 30, 2008 on suspicion of committing the two murders.

He denies the allegations, but Mr. Field told the jury: "During the course of the trial you will hear evidence that clearly links Dill to being there and attacking the two men."

The pool of potential jurors for the case heard a list of more than 40 prosecution witnesses read out as they were being selected yesterday morning, to ensure they did not have links to any of them.

The list included Police officers, doctors and relatives of the deceased.

In addition, Chief Justice Richard Ground told them: "There are two other names you may hear Roger Lightbourne senior and Roger Lightbourne junior and if you know either of those people either you must tell me."

A panel of five men and seven women was eventually picked to hear the case, which is set to continue today.