UPDATE: Poison curry victim tells court of husband-to-be's death (From Your Local Guardian)

UPDATE: Poison curry victim tells court of husband-to-be's death

3:12pm Friday 8th January 2010 in

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The fiancee of poison curry victim "Lucky" Cheema has told the Old Bailey how he lost his fight for life.

Gurjeet Choough, 23, said they had shared the meal and were talking about their wedding plans when Mr Cheema, 39, became ill.

She told the court: "Lucky ate more than I. After that, he had second helpings. Lucky said to me 'I am not feeling very well. My face has become numb and when I touch it, I cannot feel it'."

Miss Choough had a shower and then said she began feeling similar symptoms, and Mr Cheema called an ambulance to the house in Princes Road, Feltham.

"He said that everything seemed to be going dark. He could not see anything and was losing feelings in his body," Miss Choough said.

"He was touching his tongue and could not feel anything. He was having to support himself. He said 'I think this problem is because of the food we have eaten. I was feeling the same. Everything was going dark. I began to feel dizzy. It was difficult to stand up. My tummy was hurting."

Miss Choough said that, after being told that his former lover Lakhvir Singh had been to the house, Mr Cheema said she must have spiked the meal. After an ambulance failed to arrive, the couple were taken to hospital in a car.

Miss Choough was placed into a coma and recovered after treatment, but Mr Cheema died within an hour of admission.

Singh, a married mother-of-three from Southall, west London, denies murder and attempted murder in January last year. She also denies poisoning Mr Cheema the month before. He spent a week in hospital after the earlier incident.

The prosecution say that Singh became jealous and could not accept rejection when her secret lover of 16 years became engaged to the younger woman two months before he died. It is alleged that she placed deadly aconite, disguised with herbs, into a curry meal in the fridge at his home.