A Cambridge PhD student who cheated on her academic fiancé during a research trip to the Galapagos Islands, tried to “ruin” his life when he called off their wedding, a court has heard.

Sophia Cooke, a postgraduate zoology student, was accused of launching a sustained vendetta against palaeontologist, Matthew Baron, 26, which saw him banned from his college and left his reputation around the university in tatters.

Mr Baron said his life in Cambridge became almost “untenable” after Miss Cooke accused him of beating her up when he ended their year long engagement in February last year.

The couple, who lived together in a flat in Christ’s College, had been planning to get married, but things went wrong when Miss Cooke slept with someone else while on a six-week research trip to the Pacific island chain.

Miss Cooke, who insisted she had been pushed into getting engaged and had been unhappy in their relationship, said after admitting to the affair, Mr Baron subjected her to a two-hour physical assault.

She described how she had broken the news of her infidelity while the couple were on a day trip to an RSPB nature reserve in the Fens.