Oscar Pistorius 'in combat mode after mistaking tumble dryer for intruder'

Oscar Pistorius went into 'combat mode' after he thought that he heard an intruder in his home just months before he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a court has heard.

On day 11 of the Paralympian's murder trial in Pretoria, witness Sean Patrick Rens, who is from the Firearms Training Academy in Walkerville, took to the stand to give evidence.

Mr Rens, who met the double amputee in May 2012, told the High Court that Pistorius informed him that he once mistook his tumble dryer for an intruder.

According to The Telegraph, Mr Rens said: "He went into what we call Code Red - drew his gun to clear the house."

Pistorius denies murder by maintaining that he mistook the South African model for an intruder when he fired gunshots through a bathroom door in his home on Valentine's Day last year.