A homeless man arrested outside a court chopped off his friend’s head while high on drugs and carried it around with him in a plastic bag, it has emerged.

Drug user Hasan H. was found with the gruesome trophy after shocked passersby called police in Bonn, Germany, on 28th June.

The headless body of victim Murad H., 44 – a drifter pal of the suspect – was found nearby.

Now an autopsy has revealed that 38-year-old Hasan H. probably didn’t kill his drinking companion, who shared a sleeping space with him.

Instead, police believe, he chopped off his head after his pal – who hailed from Libya – had died of a serious illness.

The suspect then put the severed head in a plastic bag and carried it for a kilometre (0.6 miles) through Bonn until reaching the city’s district court.

The Moroccan-born suspect did not resist arrest but has so far chosen to remain silent.

Local media reported that the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time and he is now being held in custody in a facility for mentally ill patients.

If the preliminary autopsy results are confirmed, Hasan H. will not be charged with homicide but with desecration of the dead.

Local media reported that both men hadn’t had a permanent address for years.

The victim’s headless body was found in the place where the two men slept rough.

Hasan H. was already known to the police for drug-related crime and burglary.

Most recently, he spent two and a half years in prison in Cologne.

He is also on police record for bodily harm and is said to have used knives in some of the crimes he committed.

The Bonn District Court, which had been sealed off with tarpaulin following the gruesome discovery, was operating normally again on Wednesday.

It is unclear what kind of weapon Hasan H. used to sever the victim’s head but police are currently searching for it.