A Russian woman whose scorned husband plotted to kidnap and kill her said his violent and abusive tendencies drove her to leave him, a court heard today.

Steven Hellewell, 50, of Gorse Close, in Tadworth, is standing trial at Guildford Crown Court for soliciting to murder his wife, Elena Hellewell, 48, also from Tadworth.

The prosecution alleges that after his relationship with Mrs Hellewell broke down in 2012, he contacted his estranged son, Kerry Lee Hellewell, who lives in the Isle of Wight, and asked him to help “hide Elena Hellewell in the back of a car so the defendant could kill her”.

The jury of nine men and three women heard from Deepak Kapur, barrister for the prosecution, that his son alerted the police and that Steven Hellewell was arrested in December 2012.

The court heard Mr Hellewell told police he actually asked his son to help force Elena to watch him commit suicide.

Mrs Hellewell, a church cleaner who used to be a checkout assistant at Asda, wept as she gave evidence in court, with the aid of a Russian interpreter, hidden from the defendant behind a screen.

The mum-of-two and grandmother, who has black, straight hair and a nose piercing, wore black leggings, a red blazer and a leopard-print shirt for her court appearance.

The court heard how she had met Mr Hellewell on dating website Free Russian Personals and that the pair married in Russia within two months of meeting each other face-to-face in 2002.

She said she moved to England in 2004 with her two children – a daughter, now aged 24, and a son, now aged 28 – and that her relationship with Mr Hellewell was “non verbal” to begin with as she could not speak English, although he helped her to learn the language.

She said: “Later when we understood each other, I started to understand that there was something wrong with the relationship.

“Most of the marriage was not so good.”

Mrs Hellewell said her husband “would lose his temper easily” and that he had violent tendencies.

She said: “He always told me I was wrong and he was right and my opinion never counted.”

She claimed that Mr Hellewell had once broken a glass and cut her nose after which he called the police and said “his Russian wife was trying to kill him” and Mrs Hellewell was arrested.

The Russian also said her husband tried to hit her with a hot iron, spat at her, tried to pour hot water down her and beat her up.

She said the couple were constantly splitting up, but she would always return to him.

The court heard she found morphine in his drawer and Mr Hellewell told her “his health was not good and he was taking medicine that made him crazy”.

She said: “I didn’t like to hold a grudge against anyone. When he told me he would change and become different I believed him every time.”

She said he contacted her and “endlessly texted” her after she left him for good in February 2012, but she only replied to his messages on the “odd occasion”.

Mrs Hellewell said she did meet him five or six times between February and December, when he was arrested for soliciting to murder her.

She said: “It is my nature – I couldn’t tell him ‘no’. I always felt sorry for him.”

When asked about a text message she had received from her him during this time, in which he referred to killing himself, Mrs Hellewell said: “I thought he was just playing with me.”

But, under cross-examination, Yogain Chandarana, barrister for the defence, said Mrs Hellewell had been violent towards her husband and that she had fabricated the examples she had given of his violence.

He said: “During arguments, you would throw ashtrays at him, spit at him and attack him.”

She agreed, but said that she did not hit him and merely “pushed him to protect herself”.

The court heard Mrs Hellewell had been married to her previous husband, Victor, for 17 years, in Russia, and that the relationship ended a year before she married Mr Hellewell because Victor had started being violent.

Once she started corresponding with Mr Hellewell over the internet, Mr Chandarana said Mrs Hellwell had asked him to send her money for “false medical records” so her son would not have to join the Russian army.

She said: “I don’t know what it was called but I gave money and everything was stopped.

“I didn’t ask Steven for the money, he just gave it.”

Steven Hellewell denies soliciting to commit murder.

The trial continues.