An Australian woman allegedly murdered by her fiance had been dating a colleague in secret, the court heard.
Amy Parsons, 35, was bludgeoned to death in her Whitechapel flat in London on April 25. Her fiance, 38-year-old Roderick Deakin-White, is currently on trial for her murder.
It has been revealed that Parsons developed an intimate relationship with a colleague, James Saunders, in the weeks before her alleged murder.
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After a coffee meeting, the co-workers went for lunch at the Kiwi-owned restaurant, Caravan, in central London. The lunch date led to hundreds of increasingly flirtatious WhatsApp messages.
The friendship quickly developed into an intimate affair, with both Parsons and Saunders admitting they had feelings for one another.
Parsons spent the night with Saunders on April 14. Two days later, the 35-year-old told Saunders she had been honest with her fiance about the secret meetings.
"She had told Rod about sleeping with you [Saunders] and mentioned that Rod was trying to make big gestures to try and prove himself to Amy," prosecutor Gareth Patterson said in court.
Parsons stayed at Saunders' home for a second time on April 17 after revealing her confusion, claiming she was suffering from a lack of sleep.
At 3:18am the following morning, Saunders received a text message from Deakin-White telling him to "back off", news.com.au reports.
Hours later, Parsons confessed to Saunders that her fiance knew "everything" about the affair and she was "all over the place emotionally".
Parsons reportedly told Saunders that despite "123 text messages and 17 missed calls" from Deakin-White, she still looked at Saunders' WhatsApp messages first.
In court, jurors heard that Parsons and Deakin-White's relationship had gone on for several years, but Deakin-White was overly dependent on her.
"Before the defendant met her he had little in the way of relationships with other women... the evidence that you will hear suggests that after the relationship began, he became extremely dependent upon her," said prosecutor Patterson.
The prosecutor said Deakin-White didn't work and the Whitechapel flat was completely paid for by Parsons.
"She provided him with financial support, working as a personal assistant to a manager in an insurance company in the city," he said.
"It was Amy who paid the rent for the flat every month. The evidence suggests [Deakin-White] was very reliant on her."
The trial remains ongoing.
Newshub.
