LONDON A man who went on a date armed with a carving knife stabbed the woman he was with more than 30 times before dumping her body in stinging nettles, a court heard.

Karl Taylor, 27, is accused of stabbing businesswoman Kate Beagley, 32, more than 30 times in the head, face and throat at the end of an evening together. He then put Miss Beagley’s body in the boot of her VW Golf, taking it to woods near Watford, Hertfordshire, the Old Bailey was told. Mr Taylor later showed off his “new car” to friends and sold Miss Beagley’s mobile phone. He is accused of attacking the Centrica manager after the couple were seen sitting on a bench on Richmond Hill in May last year.

He had met Miss Beagley at a nightclub near Leicester Square where had they exchanged phone numbers. The fitness trainer and football coach, of Covent Garden, Central London, denies murdering Miss Beagley, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

The trial continues.

Times Recommends

• Milk: do we need a dairy godmother?
• DIY: the women doing it for themselves
• First double portrait of Princes unveiled