Mohammed Assri, 47, (pic. Top) of no fixed abode sacked 55 year-old James Dowdell's carers and took control of his finances after moving in.
He will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on November 20 for murdering Mr. Dowdell (pic.bottom) at his home in St. Mark's Grove, West Brompton on February 17.
Assri tried to dodge justice by frantically calling police and reporting his housemate's death, claiming he found the body on returning to the address.
Officers and paramedics attended to find Mr. Dowdell with head injuries.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Assri was arrested and found in possession of Mr. Dowdell's personal items including his bank card and a large sum of bloodstained cash.
Detectives began an investigation and found the relationship between Assri and Mr. Dowdell to be unclear.
Assri claimed his name was Adam and Mr. Dowdell was his uncle.
Assri had been homeless prior to moving into Mr. Dowdell's flat in late January.
Having moved into the flat, Assri quickly established control, seeking to exclude Mr. Dowdell's carers.
He took over his finances, including using his Halifax debit card regularly, and pawned a valuable watch-strap belonging to Mr. Dowdell.
Officers found that in an attempt to displace himself from the crime scene Assri lied about his whereabouts in the hours before Mr. Dowdell's death.
He claimed he had been at his sister’s house at 4.45pm that day and later returned to Mr. Dowdell's residence, performing CPR for thirty mins before calling the ambulance at 6.45pm.
Officers found that CCTV cameras showed he had been in the vicinity of his sister’s house twelve hours before he claimed and Mr. Dowdell's pacemaker registered a failing heart nearly two hours before an ambulance was called.
A post-mortem examination revealed bruising on Mr. Dowdell's wrists and marks to his hand suggesting he had tried to defend himself from the fatal attack.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma and compression of the neck.
Assri insisted that Mr. Dowdell's injuries were sustained by falling and were self-inflicted.
This was disproved by pathologists and medical evidence.
Detective Inspector Maria Green, from Specialist Crime said: “I would like to thank the witnesses who spoke in court for their courage in giving evidence.
“Assri is a violent and manipulative man, who has taken no responsibility for his actions, using his appearance at court as an attempt to dishonour the memory and life of James.
“I hope that James’s family and friends can draw some strength from seeing justice done.”
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