A man accused of the vicious murder of a pub landlady in north London was living and working at an Oxford pub at the time, a court heard.

The blood-soaked body of Carol Fyfe, 36, was found in her flat above The Prince Arthur, in Euston, on April 18 last year.

Australian Gregory Mills, 28, who was working at the Crown pub in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, is accused of stabbing Miss Fyfe to death after she disturbed him stealing money from the pub safe.

The Old Bailey heard Mills had worked at The Prince Arthur since summer 1996 but left on April 6 last year to take up a live-in job at The Crown.

Victor Temple, prosecuting, said Mills took a bus from Oxford to London in the early hours with the intention of stealing from the pub. His keys to The Prince Arthur had not been returned and were never found.

Wearing a black balaclava with eye holes cut into it, he deactivated the alarm, opened the safe in the cellar and took nearly £2,500, the court was told.

Mr Temple said: "Carol Fyfe disturbed Mills at a time after he had taken the money and was preparing to leave the premises. She had never been a faint heart and would not have stood passively by doing nothing. "The mask must have been pulled off in the struggle. Mills knew he had been identified and the killing took place in order that he should not be identified."

Edinburgh-born Miss Fyfe was hit with a rolling pin and stabbed with a short-bladed knife twice in the neck, the court heard. A post-mortem revealed she died from loss of blood caused by stab wounds.

DNA profiling of hairs found in the discarded balaclava provided one positive match with the defendant. The rolling pin was found in an alleyway nearby with the defendant's footprints on it, the court was told.

A boot mark imprinted in Miss Fyfe's blood on bed clothes also matched ones belonging to the defendant, the jury was told.

Mills denies murder. The case continues.

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