The brother of a killer told his victim to dump the reclusive millionaire days before he stabbed her 86 times, the Old Bailey has heard.

Ian Levy, 55, attempted suicide three times and had jumped from car parks twice because of problems in relationships.

A six-month marriage ended in 1997 over trust issues and he was sectioned in 2002 after another break-up led him to attempt suicide by leaping from the top of Southend car park.

Mr Levy was hospitalised again in 2012 due to relationship difficulties and again in 2015 after a prospective partner rejected him.

"He told her that he loved her and she laughed at him," his brother Andrew Levy told the Old Bailey.

"He jumped from the car park in Brent Cross and was sectioned."

Levy suffered a fractured pelvis and other injuries in the fall from the fifth storey. 

"They kept him in to treat his injuries for three months," his brother said.

Andrew Levy said he was concerned when in August 2018 his brother told him he was seeing Elize Stevens, 50, the S&P welfare officer and mother-of-three he was to kill.

"He couldn’t cope with relationships. Every time he met a girl he became suicidal," he said.

Ian Levy was sectioned a fourth time in February 2019 after expressing suicidal thoughts.

By that time he was already seeing Ms Stevens, who visited him in hospital.

He killed her on March 3 - three days after he was released from psychiatric care.

The brother spoke to Ms Stevens a few days before her death, telling her that his brother had trouble dealing with relationship and suggesting she should end their romance.

"I said it may be better if she were to leave him alone," Mr Levy told the jury.

"She said she wanted to be there for him. Be a mother to him. She wouldn’t leave him."

The court has heard that the accused co-owned five substantial houses which he rented out, and also had several jewellery shops. 

Neighbour Richard Zermanski said of the killer: "I moved into the flats in 2008 and I didn't speak to him until 2013."

He said Mr Levy was "courteous and polite" and changed completely for the better after he began his relationship with the victim.

"Ian had lost a lot of weight, started dressing better, he used to dress quite shabbily.

"I said to him, 'Ian, you look fantastic,'" to which Mr Levy replied: "I'm really well, I have met somebody."

He saw Mr Levy after the killing at the flat in Lime Way, Hendon, and said: "He looked like he'd been submerged in a bath of blood. Covered, not dotted, covered."

Mr Levy denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. 

The trial continues.