The jury in a trial of a man accused of murdering his lover and “folding” her naked corpse into a suitcase has retired to consider its verdict.

Today Judge Stephen Kramer QC summed up the evidence in the trial of Laszlo Gyarmati, 29, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murdering Alexandra Kovacs.

The pair first met when they shared the same house in Neasden. When they moved elsewhere, they stayed in contact and began a sexual relationship approximately a month and a half before Miss Kovacs died.

The court heard that on Wednesday July 17 last year they went to a chicken shop in Hendon Central before going to Miss Kovacs’s home in Lee Road, Mill Hill.

They had sex together in the 25-year-old’s bedroom before having an argument about a plan to arrange sham marriages to earn some extra money.

Mr Gyarmati had previously told the jury he asked Miss Kovacs to stop talking about it, but when she continued to talk, he put his hand over her mouth.

Giving evidence, Mr Gyarmati said: “She was unable to take my hand off her mouth and she started to wave her limbs about and was kicking.”

When he let go, Miss Kovacs “shrieked for help”.

Mr Gyarmati said: “I became nervous because she didn’t stop. She started to kick even more firmly and then I got hold of her throat. I wanted her to stop.”

Mr Gyarmati, who had smoked cannabis and snorted MDMA that evening, thought he heard someone at a door in the house Miss Kovacs shared with several Hungarian nationals.

Wanting Miss Kovacs to "be silent", he then placed a pillow over her face with his left hand while holding her neck with his right hand.

When he took the pillow away from her face he realised she was dead.

Mr Gyarmati has denied intending to kill Miss Kovacs, or cause her serious bodily harm.

The jury have retired to consider its verdict.