Briton accused of killing man in US

A Briton will appear at a US court charged with murder

A British medical marijuana grower will appear before a Californian court on Thursday charged with murdering an employee of a shadowy organisation for the rich and powerful.

Andrew Brian Sharkey, 36, described in court documents as an English citizen, is accused of strangling 67-year-old Michael Van Tillman in a garage which housed the legal marijuana business.

Mr Tillman, who lived in a flat attached to the premises in Guerneville, worked for the nearby Bohemian Grove - a secretive organisation, membership of which has consisted of some of the world's most powerful people. He was murdered on June 25 after being strangled by a wire.

Sharkey was arrested two days later after he went to police claiming he witnessed the crime.

A second man, American Garry Allen Scott, 56, was later picked up by police in Arizona on suspicion of being an accessory.

The Briton, who currently remains in custody in Sonoma County Jail, faces charges of murder in the first degree and abuse of an elder.

He appeared in court on Monday and was remanded until Thursday's preliminary hearing. If convicted, the counts carry a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 26 years, Sonoma's deputy district attorney Traci Carrillo confirmed.

Scott has been charged with being an accessory to the crime.

Ms Carrillo said her records indicate that Sharkey has been living in the US since at least 1996. No mention is made in court documents as to where in the UK he originally came from.

Mr Tillman lived in a flat above the garage at which his alleged killers worked. Bohemian Grove, his place of employment, consists of a 2,700-acre compound at which past US presidents and high-ranking global figures have mixed with business leaders and other powerful men behind closed doors. Mr Tillman's association to the secretive society is not thought to have any connection to the murder.