The first husband of alleged poison curry killer Dena Thompson was a fantasist who had a breakdown and thought he was communicating with his dead father, a court heard.

Lee Wyatt, 48, admitted that when he was living on his own in Eastbourne in 1995 he had developed a complicated delusion where he would ask questions of his dead father and pull out a piece of paper from a bag with 'yes' or 'no' written on it and believed the answer was his father communicating with him.

Joanna Greenberg, QC, defending Thompson, read out notes found in his home after his arrest in 1995 over an incident for which no charges were brought.

One said: "Is there any crime I can do where the watchers will not inform the police?"

Miss Greenberg said the answer scrawled on the notes said 'no'.

Miss Greenberg told Wyatt: "You were living at that time very much in a fantasy world and have embellished your account of your time with Dena to sensationalise your story."

The prosecution alleges Thompson later murdered second husband Julian Webb with overdoses of drugs which may have been fed to him in a hot curry.

Thompson, 43, of Cullompton, Devon, denies murdering Mr Webb on his 31st birthday at their home in Yapton in June 1994.

Mr Wyatt said Thompson promised him they would move to America with their son and make £50 million from a cartoon character called Sean The Leprechaun, but she said he had to move away and change his name because the Mafia wanted part of the money.

He also alleges she told him the family was being protected by a secret organisation called 'The G Squad', but Miss Greenberg told Wyatt today he ended their relationship because he was fed up with Dena and discovered she was having an affair with Mr Webb.

Referring to statements Mr Wyatt made after Mr Webb's death, Miss Greenberg said: "One thing you completely failed to mention was that she told you you had to go into hiding because of the Mafia."

Mr Wyatt replied: "No one would believe it all. I had a breakdown for 18 months."

Miss Greenberg went on: "The first mention of G Squad and the protection racket and Sean the Leprechaun was when you sold your story to a tabloid newspaper.

"It isn't in your statement of 2000 and it isn't in either of your statements of 1995, is it?"

Mr Wyatt denied deliberately withholding information from the police.

The trial continues.