A bigamist accused of murdering her husband told police she was subjected to sickening assaults by her first husband, a court heard.

Dena Thompson denies poisoning Julian Webb by feeding him a lethal cocktail of aspirin and anti-depressants in a curry at their home in Douglas Close, Yapton, in June 1994.

It is alleged she killed him when it became apparent that he was about to uncover her secret double life as a building society fraudster.

The Old Bailey heard today Thompson, of Cullompton, Devon, told police in 1993 that her previous marriage to Lee Wyatt had become violent. She said he had assaulted her, her mother and their son.

In her statement, read to the jury, she said: "In the early part of the relationship everything was fine, however his father died and he became violent and drunk."

In a statement read out by prosecutor Michael Birnbaum, Thompson described how she was attacked by Wyatt on February 8, 1993.

The court then heard that Thompson told police Wyatt had sexually assaulted her with a truncheon.

On May 14, 1993, Thompson made a statement to the police about another alleged attack by Wyatt.

The trial continues.