The retired dock worker was found lying unconscious on his driveway the next morning with serious injuries, including a fractured skull and cuts and bruises to his face and body. He died in hospital as a result of his head injuries 12 days later.

Police initially said they were keeping an “open mind” about how he had been hurt outside his Ipswich bungalow.

CCTV had filmed him walking from his local the Royal George to his home less than a mile away after midnight on July 19, 2018.

The Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team later said the death was being treated as murder.

Burroughs, also of Ipswich, was arrested in 2019. He was charged last year with murder and attempted robbery after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.

He denied the offences and was due to stand trial this month. But he has now admitted manslaughter and attempted robbery.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton told a hearing on Tuesday the pleas were acceptable and there was no need for a murder trial.

Ipswich Crown Court also heard Burroughs is serving eight years for burglary and robbing the elderly woman. Judge Martyn Levett warned the killer to expect a “very long sentence” in September.

Suffolk Police said of Burroughs: “His guilty pleas are an admission he assaulted and injured Mr Wyard during an attempted robbery and, although he attests he did not intend to kill him, his actions were undeniably the cause of his death.”

One of Mr Wyard’s three children, daughter Jo, described him as “the most gentle, selfless, loving man you could ever meet” whose life revolved around his grandchildren.

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