The man killer Jon Cudworth believed was stealing his wife has told a jury: “There was no affair.”

Dan Groombridge said he had been attracted to barmaid Mika Cudworth and had kissed once.

But he told the murder jury at Canterbury Crown Court the two were not involved in a secret relationship.

Cudworth, 36, became so jealous that he began tracking his Polish-born wife using an app on an iPhone.

Twice the attractive barmaid at Great Mongeham’s Three Horseshoes Pub gave a lift home to Mr Groombridge.

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court heard how neighbours heard a row between the Cudworth’s over the lifts in which he is alleged to have called her “a slag”.

The prosecution has alleged that Cudworth stabbed her to death in their home and then hid the body in a nearby field.

He then reported her missing and is alleged to have faked messages on Facebook to cover-up the killing.

Defence barrister Oliver Saxby QC asked Mr Groombridge if he had been attracted to Mrs Cudworth – known as Mika.

He replied: “I don’t think there was any male in the pub who didn’t think that.”

Mr Saxby: “Did you chat her up?”

The witness: “No.”

Mr Saxby: “Did you flirt with her?”

Mr Groombridge: “No”.

He added: “I found her attractive but nothing else was going on.”

The witness said that on April 28, in the kitchen of a friend’s house they had shared a kiss.

Mr Saxby: “I suggest you underplayed your relationship when you gave a statement to the police and you are underplaying it now.”

Mr Groombridge replied: “No.”

He added: “This wasn’t an affair. We both had our problems. I realised we liked each other and I wanted the relationship to grow.

“Who knows how it might have worked out?”

The trial continues.