After reports surfaced in 2019 that Darren Royce Willis was last seen alive almost a decade earlier on December 10, 2010, two of his friends called Crime Stoppers.

Wayne Johnston was called as a prosecution witness on Tuesday and remembered the date was December 16 he last saw his good friend outside the Sportsman's Hotel in Bingara, north of Tamworth.

He identified a yellow ute in a media release as belonging to long-term Bingara resident Bruce Anthony Coss.

Coss, 49, has pleaded not guilty in the supreme court at Moree to murdering his 45-year-old neighbour by fatally striking him with a steel-capped baseball bat late at night in December 2010.

Mr Johnston recalled Coss and Mr Willis had previously got on well until some "sheep business". A payment dispute had caused friction and Mr Johnston said he told his friend "watch him, he might run over you".

"And he said 'he's already tried to do that, I had to dive over in the grass'," Mr Johnston recalled Mr Willis saying.

Coss was arrested in October 2019 following a renewed investigation and an inquest. The body of Mr Willis has never been found.

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Senior Constable Steven Harris gave evidence on Tuesday that he was alerted in January 2011 to Mr Willis' disappearance by his sister and an investigation was launched.

Mr Willis had a past history of leading a nomadic lifestyle and would often leave the town for long periods without telling anyone, Senior Constable Harris had written in an earlier statement.

By then he was well-known to local police, the court heard.

"He was a character who regularly drew attention to himself, do you agree?" defence barrister Peter King asked.

"Correct," Senior Constable Harris replied.

The officer took a statement in 2011 from Coss and after speaking with him, felt "he was not involved", Senior Constable Harris wrote in a note at the time.

He agreed he had not spoken to one of the key Crown witnesses when he made that comment.

He agreed Coss "fully and freely" co-operated with questions and spoke openly of the pair's disagreements. The trial continues.

- Australian Associated Press

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