The husband of a Chinese herbalist accused of selling a banned substance sang in a hit West End musical, a court heard.

Gou Yu was a member of the cast of Miss Saigon for three years and also helped out at his wife's shop.

He trained at the Royal College of Music in London before becoming a singer at Glyndebourne and then landed a role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit show.

He was still a member of the cast when he and wife Zie Zheng opened the Chinese Medicine Centre in St James's Street, Brighton.

Zheng's mother, a doctor qualified in Chinese medicine, saw patients while she and her husband helped in the shop, Hove Crown Court heard.

Zheng, 37, allegedly sold herbal remedies containing a banned substance believed to cause kidney failure to taxi driver Sandra Stay.

She told the jury she had got rid of all products containing Aristolochia when she was informed by the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicines that it had been banned.

Mr Yu said he and his wife prepared the stock and translated for the doctor because her English was not good.

He said his wife had changed her supplier in China when the company sent her products containing Aristolochia after it was banned.

Mrs Stay said she bought tablets from the Chinese Medicine Centre after conventional treatment for severe psoriasis failed.

She later suffered renal failure and both her kidneys were removed last year. She now faces having to have a transplant or undergo dialysis for the rest of her life.

Two kidney specialists told the court they believed the cause of the renal failure was poisoning from Chinese herbal remedies.

Zheng denies four charges of selling a medicinal product containing a prohibited substance in a case brought by the Department of Health.

The jury was expected to retire today.