A wealthy woman from Marylebone was murdered by two professional conmen with gambling habits, who then recruited women to impersonate her so they could take her goods as well as her life, the Old Bailey heard today.

Rakesh Bhayani, 41, of Chamberlayne Avenue, Wembley, and Nicholas Kutner, 48, of no fixed address, deny murdering Carole Waugh, who disappeared from her home last April.

Her remains were found three-and-a-half months later in a lock-up garage in south London.

The 49-year-old had been stabbed in the neck.

Patrick Gibbs QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “The Crown cannot say whose hand was on the weapon.

“But whoever struck the fatal blow, we say that Mr Bhayani and Mr Kutner planned it, and were responsible for it, and having taken her life, they then systematically took all her worldly goods as well.”