A 21-YEAR-OLD woman beaten to death by her husband described him as a "psycho" who had tried to suffocate her in her sleep, a jury heard.

Ridda Zanab said Danish Irfan was possessive and quick to get really angry with her, Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday.

She complained he was controlling and did not let her stay out at night.

Irfan, 22, admits killing his wife with a hammer at their home in Alford Terrace, Lidget Green, Bradford, on November 3 last year.

The takeaway worker has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder.

College student Shammas Nazir said he first met Mrs Zanab in the spring of 2013 when she was pregnant with Irfan's child.

Mr Nazir, from the East Midlands, said they became close friends for several months but the relationship was not sexual.

Mrs Zanab told him Irfan had tried to suffocate her with a pillow as she slept but she had managed to break free.

Mr Nazir said she told him her husband was monitoring her movements using a location device on her iPhone.

She asked him to disable it for her but he told her that would get her in more trouble.

Mr Nazir said Mrs Zanab was "heartbroken" about the end of a previous relationship.

She told him she had married Irfan to help her get over it.

It had not worked as she liked her husband but did not love him.

"The only thing keeping the relationship alive was the fact that she was pregnant," Mr Nazir said.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp has told the jury Irfan swung a hammer at least ten times at his wife's head while she lay defenceless in bed.

Mrs Zanab died in minutes from massive brain damage.

Irfan changed his clothes and dropped their baby daughter off at her mother's home, in Legrams Lane, Bradford, telling her family his wife had left him.

He fled the country on a false passport, remaining in Pakistan until he caught a return flight to UK and was arrested at Heathrow Airport on February 22.

Mr Sharp said Irfan killed his wife after discovering a text message she had sent to another man, saying: "I love you, mwahhh, good night."

The trial continues.