The wife of Jonathon Cudworth once told a friend that he had tried to rape her when he was drunk, it has been claimed.

The 35-year-old ex-soldier has denied murdering barmaid Mariola last year and dumping her body in a rape seed field.

But now a jury has heard claims that the 36-year-old Polish-born Mrs Cudworth – known as Mika – had made rape allegations to a friend.

Wioletta Rachwalik told Canterbury Crown Court how her friend had confided to her how she refused to have sex with her husband because when he was drunk.

Mrs Rachwalik said Mijka told her she was scared of Cudworth as the two travelled by coach to Poland just weeks before she was killed.

She said:"She said he grabbed her by the neck and was holding her close to the wall and tried to rape her.

“She said never again would he let him touch her."

Mrs Rachwalik said Mika was scared to go back to the cottage she shared with Cudworth in Northbourne.

She added that the former soldier’s heavy drinking had made the relationship 'poison.'

In April Cudworth reported to police that his wife had “stormed out” of their home after a row.

On May 3 Mrs Rachwalik went to Cudworth's house after hearing of the disappearance.

She told the jury that each time she questioned him about the disappearance, Cudworth’s story changed.

Then, when she saw messages on Facebook, written in Polish and purporting to come from Mika she thought something had happened to her.

She told the jury the Polish grammar was incorrect and sentences seemed to tail off.

Mrs Rachwalik also denied she had been told by Cudworth that his wife had been depressed.

She added:"I never said she was rundown.I don't even have his mobile number.That was untrue.She told me she had a life without love and without sex."

Another friend Anna Foreman said Mika was planning to leave her husband.

She said: "Jon would become irrational and sometimes violent. He pushed her against a wardrobe and punched her in the face."

She claimed he became jealous when she went out with friends.

Miss Foreman said: "She wanted to leave because she couldn't put up with it any more."

The case continues.