'Hoogstraten beat me up'

The teenage former girlfriend of convicted killer Nicholas van Hoogstraten told today how the once "charming" property tycoon beat her in a jealous rage as he awaited trial.

Tanaka Sali, 19, said he pulled her hair out in clumps and beat her with a shoe after becoming convinced she was having an affair. The attack, which happened after she ignored the possessive multi-millionaire's orders not to go out more than once a week, led to him being arrested for assault last March.

Ms Sali may be prosecuted for withholding damning prosecution evidence during the Old Bailey trial in which Hoogstraten, 57, was convicted of manslaughter for arranging the killing of business rival Mohammed Raja.

She had originally told police he introduced her to Robert Knapp, one of the two men he paid to carry out the attack, boasting casually: "This is Bob. He's one of my hitmen." Knapp and David Croke were jailed for life for murder.

Ms Sali then refused to give evidence, saying she had made up the story. The trial judge, who is thought to have noted the expensive clothes she wore in court, has sent papers to the Attorney-General inquiring as to whether she was bought off. In today's Daily Mirror, Zimbabwean Ms Sali says: "He took off his slipper and started hitting me across the face. It broke and he ran off and got one of his shoes. He hit me above my eye, screaming, 'I know you've been with another man'."

In a chilling insight into his arrogant view of life, she added: "Once I was just playing around and I asked him if he thought he was God. He said he thought he was on a level slightly higher than Jesus - and he wasn't joking. He said: 'I have got so much money I can say and do whatever I like'." Hoogstraten faces a possible life sentence for manslaughter.

TV presenter Janet Street-Porter told today how she grew up next door to Knapp in a working-class district of Fulham. She describes him as "highly intelligent and very attractive" before his gradual drift into crime.