A body builder allegedly murdered by his wife planned to emigrate to America before his death.

Julian Webb died at home in Yapton, near Arundel, after taking a cocktail of drugs on his 31st birthday, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

His wife, Dena Thompson, 43, denies murdering him in June 1994.

It has been alleged by the prosecution that she slipped a fatal dose of aspirin and anti-depressants into a hot curry to mask their taste.

Close friend Paul Hudson, known as Don, said Mr Webb was looking forward to starting a new life in Florida and had secured a job on the Tampa Tribune newspaper.

Mr Hudson, who runs a Florida fishing shop, said: "It was a lifelong dream of his to move to the United States and live over there.

"He did at one time inquire about possibly working for me at Action Tackle, but I didn't have a position for him.

"Ultimately, he ended up being interviewed at the Tampa Tribune local newspaper and, as far as I know, he had procured a job in the advertising department there."

Mr Hudson said he was immediately "suspicious" when he learned of the death.

He said Thompson telephoned him the following day.

"The first thing she said was that Julian had passed," he said.

"I was unfamiliar with that expression and I said: 'What did he pass? A kidney stone?'

"She said, no, he had passed away in his sleep last night.

"I was stunned. I was almost speechless. I thought she was joking and I think I inquired if she was joking and she said: 'No'.

"She said first off it was his birthday and he had been fishing earlier in the day on a charter boat as a birthday present to him.

"Then she said it was a very rough day and he had taken sea sickness pills.

"I thought that was odd as he was not prone to sea sickness.

"He was a very hard, seaworthy person."

Mr Hudson said Thompson concluded: "I guess the combination of the sea sickness pills, the aspirin, the anti-histamines, the steroids and the alcohol was too much for his heart and he died in his sleep."

Thompson, who now lives in Columpton, Devon, visited Florida again in early 1995.

Mr Hudson said she told him she had come into £100,000 in insurance money by selling her home and that she wanted to move to the United States.

He said Thompson described her husband as being "very depressed and despondent" when he died.

Mr Hudson told the court: "I may have expressed my disbelief.

"I am sure I did but cannot remember my exact words, just how unbelievable and remarkable it was."

Mr Webb's death had been treated as suicide but the case was reopened and his body exhumed in 2001.

The trial continues.