A debt enforcement officer was fatally stabbed by the man she had gone to collect cash from, who bought drugs and searched for porn moments after she disappeared, a court has heard.

Geoffrey Hutton allegedly murdered 49-year-old mother-of-three Tina Cantello between June 7 and June 10 this year - she died as a result of 30 stab wounds to her left chest and neck.

The 38-year-old of Basildon, who sat in the dock at Snaresbrook Crown Court wearing a grey suit with blue shirt and tie, denies one count of murder and only spoke to confirm his name.

Opening the prosecution's case, Simon Spence told the court Ms Cantello arranged with Hutton to meet at his property on Derby Close, and had done so many times before - with the pair sharing a "perfectly amicable relationship".

At Snaresbrook Crown Court for the start of the two-week trial on Monday, more than 20 members of Ms Cantello's family packed out the public gallery.

Along with the jury of four men and eight women, they heard how Ms Cantello left for work at 5pm on June 8 and had been due home for dinner at 7.30pm, but never arrived and was later reported missing to the police.

Mr Spence said enquiries and the movement of her car led officers to the defendant's address, adding: "Some 24 hours later, when the police went in, they found him covered in blood.

"They found Tina's dead body upstairs and she was largely naked. She had been stabbed numerous times."

He said Ms Cantello was found in the bedroom and was naked apart from her bra - with her underwear "wrapped around her right ankle".

Mr Spence said a post-mortem examination showed she had 17 abrasions, as well as the 30 stab wounds which had caused damage to both Ms Cantello's lungs, the aorta and left ventricle of her heart.

"This has led to the collapse of the left lung and significant blood loss, both internally and externally," he added.

"According to Dr Swift, the nature of the injuries is such that she would have rapidly become unconscious and died within minutes of the start of the attack."

Ms Cantello was a debt enforcement officer for Provident Financial, a company which specialises in small loans and would, as part of her role, visit customers homes to collect small sums of cash.

She was equipped with an iPhone to arrange meetings and would record conversations during collections on the device, the court heard.

During the prosecution opening, Mr Spence said Hutton had been "looking to obtain drugs and left his house 20 mins after Tina Cantello had arrived".

With blood and urine samples later showing he had taken "a significant amount of cocaine" and some cannabis, he said Hutton was described by a witness ahead of purchasing the drugs, as "drenched, like he had stood in the shower with his clothes on".

At around 6.25pm and 6.29pm, Hutton had also accessed a website called adult works, which offers pornography or the services of an escort, Mr Spence said.

Hutton, who is deaf and being assisted in the trial with a tablet showing a live transcript of proceedings, mostly kept his head down looking at the screen.

Mr Spence said Hutton told police officers another unknown man had killed Ms Cantello in his house, before making him injure himself and forcing him to drink bleach.

He added: "There is significant evidence linking this defendant to the killing of Tina Cantello or very little, if any, forensic evidence of the presence of a third person in the house."

The trial continues.