A woman accused of spying for Russia thought she was assisting her boyfriend with police work, she has told a court.

Appearing at the Old Bailey, Vanya Gaberova said she was misled by Biser Dzhambazov, who claimed they were working on legitimate operations linked to Interpol.

Ms Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, all from London, deny a charge of conspiracy to spy.

Dzhambazov, 43, from London and Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to spy for Russia.

The Bulgarian nationals were allegedly involved in multiple espionage operations against people and places of interest to the Russian state.

Giving evidence in her defence for the first time, Ms Gaberova said Dzhambazov showed her fake Interpol identity cards bearing his name and picture “many times”.

“I remember one time when I was with my sister on the phone,” she said.

“I was on a video call… and he put his badge on the phone to her.”

Ms Gaberova told the court it was her dream to be a police officer, but that she could not afford to obtain necessary qualifications in Bulgaria when she was younger, instead training as an accountant.

Dzhambazov, she said, promised to help her become a police officer.

“He said that he knows people who can help me and there is a school in Wembley,” she said.

She told the court Dzhambazov asked her to accompany him on a “work trip” to Vienna. There they would conduct surveillance of the investigative journalist Christo Grozev, whom Dzhambazov said was “corrupt”.

“You want to be a policewoman you can come if you want,” he is said to have told her.

Ms Gaberova and Mr Ivanchev had been in a relationship, but as that relationship broke down, she became “very close” with Dzhambazov, who was himself in a relationship with Ms Ivanova, she said.

She fell in love with him while the pair were in Valencia, conducting further surveillance of Mr Grozev, she said.

The rest of their time they spent on the beach, eating out and other normal holiday activities, the jury heard.

“We never followed him. We saw him only at breakfast,” she said.

“I never followed people.”

On one occasion, she was on holiday with Dzhambazov when he told her he had an urgent job with Interpol and they had to go to Montenegro, she said.

“He told me it’s a Bulgarian guy who stole a lot of money from our country and they are looking for him,” she told the court.

The pair drove from Sofia across the border, with a second man, who was not identified to the jury.

“I was expecting the same holiday trip like the previous two,” she said.

She denied ever meeting or having any contact with Orlin Roussev.

The trial continues.