Former Banbury mother-of-two Karen Heywood was strangled and her body dumped at a beauty spot after a robbery went wrong, a court has heard.

Lennie Cabble, 25, is accused of murdering the 35-year-old in Houghton, near Bognor, on January 1, after a failed bid to get his hands on her 14,000 divorce settlement. He denies the charge. Philip Katz, prosecuting, told Lewes Crown Court that Mrs Heywood had moved back to her family home in Banbury after leaving her husband and two children in Southampton. After Mrs Heywood, a heavy gambler, had a row with her mother, she moved to a night shelter in Winchester on December 5.

She met a man called Bill Janes during her time there, and they planned to marry when her divorce was finalised. The court heard Mrs Heywood, Mr Janes, another man and the defendant had gone to buy drugs in Brixton with 1,500 of her 14,000 divorce settlement, but the three men had driven off, leaving her stranded.

The court heard Cabble offered to give her a lift back to the night shelter in Winchester from Bognor Regis on New Year's Day with two other men Charles Parker and Gary Putland when he stopped the car and threatened her with a knife, before throttling her. Cabble allegedly told a friend he returned to the murder scene just hours later and hid the body in dense undergrowth, where it lay undiscovered for nearly three weeks.

The case continues today.