Sydney  - An Australian carpet-layer relieved his new bride of almost everything she owned by convincing her he was a secret agent engaged in international espionage, a court in Melbourne was told Wednesday.

Wayne Charters, 54, pleaded not guilty to obtaining money by deception from single mother Karen Roberts, but agreed that he had stolen the suits he and his best man wore at the 2003 wedding.

"I genuinely believed he was the man of my dreams," Roberts told the court.

She was sadly disabused when Charters, who claimed his carpet-laying was a cover given him by Australia's intelligence agency, fled to China after the honeymoon.

He lived there for five years - teaching English, practising as a medical doctor and passing himself off as a brigadier general recently retired from the US Army.

Charters, who had married again in China, was arrested on his return to Australia last year. He claimed he had come back to face justice, but it was alleged in court that his return had more to do with facing criminal charges and a spell in a Chinese prison.

The court was told that Charters persuaded Roberts to sell her house and other possessions and put the proceeds in a joint bank account.

He told her he needed to leave Australia urgently because he "knew too much" and was in danger of being "eliminated." Roberts was warned that if she blew his cover she too would be rubbed out.

Roberts said she realized she had been conned when Charters claimed he had been recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and must fly to Canada. (dpa)