A former call girl was stabbed to death by an infatuated client who stalked her and tattooed her name inside a heart on his back, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday.

Vikramgit Singh, 25, plunged a seven-inch carving knife into the stomach of Gemma Dorman, 24, in Lavender Hill, Battersea, on July 31, 2008, a jury was told.

Before the killing, Singh, of Ruskin Road in Southall, bombarded her with up to 30 text messages a day and sent love letters begging for her to return his affection, it is alleged.

Prosecuting, Richard Whittam QC said: “When she was just 24 years old, she was stabbed to death by Vikramgit Singh as she walked along Lavender Hill in south-west London. It was a brutal attack on a defenceless woman.”

The court heard how Miss Dorman, from Wandsworth, met Mr Singh while working for Vixens Escort Agency between July 2005 and June 2007.

The pair began a relationship, but Miss Dorman broke it off several months after she left the agency, saying she never wanted to see him again.

Mr Singh, who earned just £400 a week, later claimed he had given her about £260,000 to make her stay with him.

After a barrage of love letters and text messages, Miss Dorman and her mother reported him to the police for harassment.

In one letter he wrote: “I can’t do without you, I love you so much. Please try to understand my feelings.”

Miss Dorman was in the Amazing Thai restaurant with her new fiance the night she was killed.

Witnesses saw Mr Singh, who wanted to marry her himself, waiting nearby and attack her when she left the restaurant to get cash.

When he was arrested, he allegedly told police: “I did kill her. I killed Gem.

“But I’m not guilty, you don’t know what she did to me.”

The jury was told to consider whether Mr Singh should be convicted based on his intent, diminished responsibility or provocation. He denies murder. The trial continues.