A cross-dresser murdered his Australian fiancee by bludgeoning her over the head with a metal bar after she told him she would leave him, a court heard.

Roderick Deakin White, 38, allegedly carried out the "savage attack" on Amy Parsons, 35, while she was showering in the Whitechapel flat they shared on April 25 this year.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Ms Parsons was unhappy in the relationship, growing close to a male colleague.

Prosecutor Gareth Patterson QC said: "Unwilling to accept she was going to leave him, he used a metal bar to hit her repeatedly around the head while she was showering.

"By his blows he caused horrific injuries and fractures to the head, face and brain."

Jurors heard Mr Deakin White developed an "emotional and financial" dependency on Ms Parsons, a personal assistant at a City company said to have become dissatisfied with the relationship.

Mr Patterson said she told friends one issue was Mr Deakin White's cross-dressing habit.

"She was unhappy about this and this was something he had often wanted to do when they were intimate," he said.

A few weeks before her death she started a relationship with colleague James Saunders which led to Mr Deakin White becoming jealous and stalking her, the court heard.

He messaged a friend saying: "I'm going to do something stupid, I just know it."

The prosecutor said events culminated on the evening Ms Parsons told him she was leaving.

Whle she showered, Mr Deakin White picked up a metal crowbar and battered the "wholly defenceless" woman over the head, the court heard.

He left while Ms Parsons, bleeding on the shower floor, was allegedly still breathing.

The next day, prosecutors allege, he confessed to a friend his guilty feelings and was convinced to turn himself in.

Alerted by Mr Deakin White's father, emergency services broke into the flat, finding Ms Parsons' naked body covered in blood. A post-mortem examination found she died of a traumatic brain injury.

In police interviews, Mr Deakin White admitted attacking Ms Parsons but denied being a murderer, saying it was an "accident".

Giving evidence, Mr Saunders said that on April 18 he received a message from Mr Deakin White that said: "What are you playing at? Back off".

Mr Deakin White, from Whitechapel, denies one count of murder.

The trial continues.