A 25-year-old woman “seemed down” and “nervous” the day she was killed, a court has heard.

Alexandra Kovacs’s body was found in a large, black suitcase in Mill Hill last July, the day after she spent the night with Laszlo Gyarmati who is accused of her murder.

Mr Gyarmati of Station Road, Finchley, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denies murdering the Hungarian national at her home in Lee Road, Mill Hill.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court heard how Miss Kovacs complained of red marks on her skin, and asked to go home early from her place of work at a bespoke t-shirt company in Finchley last July.

That night she went for dinner with Mr Gyarmati at Sam's Chicken in Hendon Central before the pair returned to her home. The following day her naked body was found folded in a suitcase in bushes. 

Her boyfriend, a man called Balaza Bako, was in Hungary at the time of her death but close friends to Miss Kovacs said she had several relationships with other men, some of which were sexual.

Talking about their relationship in a statement to police which was read out in court, Mr Bako said: “We agreed it wouldn’t be a serious relationship but we loved each other.”

He went on to say he was “devastated” when he heard of her death.

The trial continues.