A soldier whose double life with an East Yorkshire woman was discovered by his wife after he died in a motorbike crash was 'reckless' about the future of his marriage, a court heard.

Barrister Howard Elgot said Lance-Corporal Jason Dalziel's behaviour was that "of a man who does not wish to stay married to his wife."

Mr Elgot, representing motor insurers who say the soldier's widow, Sadie, should receive only modest compensation for his death, catalogued a pattern of behaviour which he said showed the marriage was doomed.

Mr Dalziel had frequently contacted his unsuspecting 'fiancee' Elizabeth Simpson, of Shiptonthorpe, near Pocklington, on a mobile phone - although the family's phone had been cut off because of unpaid bills.

Mr Elgot said he understood Mrs Dalziel's argument that she would have stood by her husband even had she known of his infidelity.

But he told the court: "He had stopped paying the mortgage.

"He had not paid the phone bill so that, while he was calling his girlfriend on the mobile and, if Elizabeth Simpson is right, being available at all times to answer his mobile phone, his wife and child were left phone-less.

"He was so reckless about his relationship with Elizabeth Simpson" Mr Elgot told Deputy High Court Judge Robert Moxon-Browne QC..

He added that Mr Dalziel's wife and daughter, Caris now five, "did not even have a proper bathroom," because of his inept DIY attempts.

But the judge put to Mr Elgot: "The fact that he led this double life for more than a year indicates to me that he wanted to enjoy the fruits of that for as long as he could. He had no intention of leaving his wife."

Mr Elgot has also told the court that Mr Dalziel's Army disciplinary record was so poor that his service career was as doomed as his marriage.

But Major Mervyn Bassett, who commanded Mr Dalziel's unit, described him as a "good team member".

Mr Dalziel was aged 25 when his motorbike crashed in Hull with Miss Simpson riding as a pillion passenger. She considered herself Mr Dalziel's fiancee and neither she, nor his wife, had any idea of each other's existence.

Mrs Dalziel, 30, of Burham, Kent who says she "worshipped the ground" on which her husband walked and described him as a "doting dad" is seeking £400,000 compensation for his death.

Insurers representing the driver of the car involved in the collision - Mr Gary Donald of Doncaster - have accepted 80 per cent liability in the case.

But they insist the widow is only entitled to modest damages because the marriage was "unlikely to have survived."

The hearing continues.