Sydney  - An Australian who pleaded guilty to a murder charge Friday said a long-time "imaginary friend" called Bert had ordered the killing.

"What Bert says, goes," Christopher Maddox, 28, told police when asked to explain a 2007 attack in which William Woods, 26, was slashed 40 times with a Samurai sword and then shot in the head with a nail gun.

Maddox's lawyer told the Melbourne court that Bert had been his imaginary companion since he was a toddler. (dpa)