THE husband of a 21-year-old Lee woman found murdered at her home was "controlling" and had previously threatened his wife with a knife, a court heard.

Orina Morawiec was found with her throat slit while wearing a bikini in the flat she shared with her husband in Eastdown Park on August 14 last year.

Farhad Safi, 23, an Afghan national, appeared at the Old Bailey today (February 18) charged with his wife's murder.

Orina's friend Rochelle Brooks, who studied at Lewisham College with her between 2010 and 2011, tearfully told the court how they once had to hide evidence of her visiting the couple’s flat to avoid Safi's anger.

She said: “Orina was lovely, she didn't have any problems with anyone and she was genuinely a really nice person.

"He [Safi] was very controlling so he didn't really like her seeing her friends and when we did go to her house, we had to bring all our wine bottles and crisp wrappers with us so he didn't know we were there.

"As it got a lot later on in the evening, she started not being her usual bubbly self. A downer went on her. She said 'I need to clean up the house and get into bed.'

"It had to be done before her husband came home."

Orina, who briefly worked at a Lewisham branch of Marks and Spencer after graduating, called her stepfather Tom Pokorski in May last year saying Safi had threatened to kill her with a knife, the court heard.

Mr Pokorski, who lives with Orina's mother Anna Morawiec in New Cross, told the court: "She said she was feeling threatened and that he was threatening her with a knife.”

He went on to say Polish-born Orina, who became a Muslim after her marriage in June 2012, later called to say everything was fine between the couple.

The jury also heard how the victim’s mother once found two large knives in the pair's kitchen and had hidden them with her daughter who was concerned.

She also called the police in 2010 after an argument and Safi was arrested for assaulting his wife.

Speaking of events after the wedding, Orina’s mother added: "She [Orina] was supposed to stay home, she wasn't meant to have any friends, she was meant to find a job quickly, and that was her life. Her house, her work and nothing else."

Defending, James Scobie accused Ms Morowiec and Mr Pokorski of never liking the defendant, which they both denied.

He went on to say the young couple were always arguing and making-up, which her mother and stepfather agreed with.

Prosecuting, Zoe Johnson told the jury Orina wanted a divorce which might have contributed to Safi, an asylum seeker, becoming angry and killing her.

Orina's body was discovered after she did not turn up to meet her mother Morwawiec who she had arranged to go swimming with at 1pm.

CCTV showed Safi leaving the flat at around 12.15pm when he took a taxi to Dover and did not pay the £100 fare, Ms Johnson told the court.

He was arrested on August 15 last year after being found on the A20 carriageway between Ashford and Dover and claimed he had been driven there and abandoned by a friend.

He denies murder and claims a Peckham gang killed his wife and framed him, the court heard.

The trial continues.

Lee asylum seeker 'slit wife's throat after she wanted a divorce'