A Russian spy donned a bandage of “toilet paper” to dupe his lover into believing he had cancer, a court has heard.
Over three years, Biser Dzhambazov, 43, deployed a team of spies across Europe to carry out surveillance on people and places of interest to the Russian State, it is alleged.
His lover Vanya Gaberova and long-term partner Katrin Ivanova have denied being part of the plot, claiming Dzhambazov lied to them both.
On Friday, Gaberova, 30, told jurors how she became suspicious of his claim he had cancer.
Vanya Gaberova in her Ray-Ban glasses (Met Police/PA)
In January 2023, she took a Telegram video screen shot of Dzhambazov with a white bandage wound around his head.
Gaberova said he had called to tell her he was in pain and to “prove” he was not lying.
Defence barrister Anthony Metzer KC asked: “Did you start believing him again?”
Gaberova replied: “I’m afraid, yes. I sent to my mother because my mother and sister didn’t believe me.”
Mr Metzer said: “What did you think he had round his head?”
The defendant said she believed it was a bandage “like he is in a hospital”.
The lawyer pressed: “You accept now it looks like toilet paper?”
Gaberova conceded that was what her mother had thought.
Biser Dzhambazov wearing a protective vest (Met Police/PA)
Mr Metzer asked: “When he first told you he had cancer, did you believe him?”
Gaberova replied: “Of course. I was devastated. I was crushed, I couldn’t breathe.”
He told her his brain tumour was being treated by a “Dr Matteo” who operated from various countries, including Germany, the defendant said.
But he never asked her to accompany him to any medical appointments and by October 2022 her suspicions were raised, the court was told.
Gaberova said she was in Bulgaria to get her teeth braces removed when Dzhambazov purported to be in hospital.
She told jurors: “He was making a selfie of him in the hospital and you can see in the back the name of the hospital.
“I remember he disappeared after that. I called this hospital saying ‘sorry, I’m calling about my boyfriend’.
“I explained he’s sick with cancer. I give his name, date of birth and they told me they don’t have patient with this name and this person has been in this place only for dietology appointment.”
The next time Dzhambazov got in touch he claimed to have moved to another hospital and Gaberova did not let on what she had discovered, the court heard.
She then called the second hospital and was told there was no such patient registered there either, the defendant said.
By December 2022, the relationship appeared to be breaking down and Gaberova accused Dzhambazov of “pretending to be a victim”.
In messages read out in court, she told him: “Stop bothering me and leave me alone. If you need anything I’m here but not for your bullshit. You are toxic.”
Dzhambazov wrote: “I’ve always told you the truth no matter whether it hurts or it doesn’t or whether you like it or not.”
The defendant replied: “You and the truth are two very different and distant things.”
Around this time, Gaberova told jurors she had been “shocked” to see him coming out of a car holding hands with another woman.
Dzhambazov maintained he was sick, saying: “I just want you to know I’m going in for surgery operation and I don’t want our last words to be bad.”
In a later message he told Gaberova that he was “to blame for everything over and over again”.
He wrote: “I’m not your happiness. I’m just a compromise for you.”
Gaberova replied: “Yes, but I was yours, you see….
“Take care, little darling. I wish you to get well and be infintely happy. Farewell.”
Earlier in her evidence, Gaberova told jurors that Dzhambazov’s promise to help her train to be a police officer was “all lies” too.
Vanya Gaberova told a court how she began to suspect Biser Dzhambazov was lying to her (Met Police/PA)
She went with him to carry out surveillance on Russian dissident Kirill Kachur in Montenegro on being told the target was in hiding after stealing “a lot of money”, jurors heard.
She explained she had bought a pair of Ray-Ban spy glasses with Dzhambazov’s money to listen to music, take photographs and play videos, but insisted he had never paid her for work.
She denied meeting alleged spymaster Jan Marsalek, saying it was pure coincidence that she had sent her boyfriend a picture of an Interpol wanted poster about him.
The defendant said she thought it was “strange” when she was given a fake press card but she never questioned why or used it.
She also told jurors Dzhambazov was angry at having to organise a sticker drop in European cities as “a favour”, insisting she knew nothing about right-wing Ukrainian politics that they referred to.
On one trip to Montenegro, Dzhambazov pulled out his fake Interpol card during a confrontation at the airport over his missing luggage, jurors were told.
Gaberova, from Euston, her ex-boyfriend Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, of Acton, and Ivanova, 33, from Harrow, have denied conspiracy to spy between 2020 and 2023.
Ivanova has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of possession of false identity documents.
Dzhambazov, 43, from Harrow, and Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, have admitted plotting to spy.
The Old Bailey trial was adjourned until Monday.