Crying is my new hobby, said bride days before her murder

A friend of murdered Anni Dewani claims the new bride sent her a text message six days before she died, saying: "Crying has become my new hobby."

She also claims Mrs Dewani took off her engagement ring and threw it at her then fiancé Shrien, 30, in a row at a hotel eight days before their wedding in India.

Mrs Dewani, 28, was shot dead on honeymoon in Cape Town in November after the couple's taxi was hijacked on a sightseeing tour. Six of her friends have written an open letter calling on her husband to return to South Africa to face allegations that he was involved in his wife's death.

The millionaire care home boss insists he is innocent and that his marriage was happy. He is on bail at home in Bristol, fighting extradition. Four local men have been arrested in connection with the hijack. One of the six friends to write the letter, a 25-year-old woman from Mumbai who did not wish to be identified, apparently disclosed details to The Sun of a text message exchange she said occurred on 7 November.

She claimed to the newspaper that after the comment about crying, Mrs Dewani had texted: "Hope it will be better one day." The woman said she had comforted Mrs Dewani after the alleged engagement ring incident, adding: "She said they were just not compatible. Anni moved out of the hotel for the night, but next day Shrien sent round a car and they made up."