The 54-year-old met Scanlon while travelling, and the pair both went to the Quairading campgrounds to set up for the evening.

The court was told Scanlon had been drinking heavily at the camp when at some point Mr White indicated he had a head injury.

He was bleeding profusely, but Scanlon said Mr White had insisted he was fine.

Scanlon later realised Mr White had passed away and, according to his lawyer, “panicked”.

Scanlon had a prior criminal record in Queensland and there was a warrant out for his arrest when Mr White passed away.

“He freaks out, he doesn’t know what to do,” Mr Scanlon's lawyer said.

“In his head, he is going back to prison and he will be blamed for this.”

Scanlon took Mr White’s body 45 metres away from the campground and buried him in nearby bushland.

He then filled the grave using Mr White’s own shovel, put broken branches over the dirt and took Mr White’s Toyota Landcruiser and camper trailer.

The court was told Scanlon assumed Mr White’s identity and used his bank card to make a number of purchases at local service stations.

When the bank tried to put a stop to the payments because they seemed inconsistent with Mr White’s usual spending, Scanlon pretended to be the deceased man and asked them to issue a new PIN number, re-routing Mr White’s address to that of his ex-wife.

He later drove back to Queensland in Mr White’s car to be with his former partner.

The court was told Scanlon tried to conceal the vehicle by spray painting it, and had his nephew take apart a back fence on his property so he could store it there in case police were called.

He had the car until July 23, when he crashed and rolled it about 30 kilometres north of Brisbane. He fled the scene, although police later tracked him down through a fingerprint left on the rear of the vehicle.

During this time, Mr White’s family became concerned when he didn’t respond to texts and calls about his father’s death.

He had been missing for nearly a year when WA Police issued a fresh call for information on his whereabouts.

A day later, his body was found in a shallow grave at the campsite, about 160 kilometres north of Quairading, near where he was last seen.

The remains were so decomposed police were unable to determine a cause of death.

WA Police later travelled to Queensland and extradicted Scanlon to face charges in Perth.

He was charged with “interfering with a corpse to hinder an inquiry”, and a string of other offences relating to stealing a number of cars throughout WA, Mr White’s own vehicle, and using Mr White's credit cards after his death.

Scanlon pleaded guilty to all seven charges, although it was argued he should be made eligible for parole if he was handed an immediate imprisonment.

Mr Scanlon’s lawyer said his offending had been exacerbated due to drug use and a relationship breakdown, and he had since expressed “sincere remorse” for his actions.

“Mr Scanlon wishes he had acted completely differently on that day,” he said.

“He understands Mr White did not deserve to be buried in the bush in the way that he was, and left there.

“He understands the effect it has had on Mr White’s family.”

However the state prosecution said it was clear Scanlon had tried to conceal what had happened and he had lied to police.

When interviewed by police, Scanlon denied he had any knowledge of Mr White’s death, and said he had known him from a previous stint in prison.

Scanlon told police Mr White had been a drug runner, and his bikie friends had threatened to kill him. He said Mr White was still alive and had in fact driven him back to Queensland.

“He expressed such outrage at police at their accusations,” the state prosecutor said.

Eventually after four hours, Scanlon admitted to police what he knew about Mr White’s death and where they could find the body.

The prosecutor said both Mr White’s parents died during the year he was missing.

"His sister has expressed she was almost happy her parents had died during this time so they died never knowing what had happened to him," she said.

"That is a considerable time to put a family through that."

Scanlon is due to be sentenced on February 28.