By Sujin Thomas

SYDNEY - DETECTIVE Sergeant Philip Elliott has seen many a dead body after 19 years in the job but the badly battered bodies of two Singaporean students murdered in 2003 in Sydney were the worst he had ever come across.

Mr Tony Tan Poh Chuan's head was 'deformed and extensively damaged', said the veteran detective on the stand on Wednesday.

Pieces of plastic, presumably from a newly-bought aluminium baseball bat which was used on him, were stuck to his head in a bloody mess of skin, bone and hair.

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