Kate Malonyay murdered by compulsive liar Elliot Coulson: coroner

Days after Sydney finance worker Kate Malonyay was found dead, friends kept receiving text messages from her phone assuring them she was okay and was taking sick leave from her job.

But the popular 32-year-old had been strangled and bashed to death in her Mosman home by her ex-boyfriend Elliott Coulson, the NSW Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon found.

"One of her friends was in the police station (after her body had been found) when she received a text," he told the Coroner's Court today.

Ms Malonyay, regarded as having "a gift for friendship", dated the former navy officer for more than a year until their split in January 2013.

The court heard Ms Malonyay became worried Coulson had hacked her email account in the days before her death and hired a locksmith to change the locks to her apartment, but they never showed, the Daily Telegraph reports.

It emerged their relationship was plagued by Coulson's lies and he had fabricated several events in his life, including a twin brother who died in a car accident and that his parents had booked the couple a first-class trip to Hawaii.

Ms Malonyay's bruised body was found in the bed of her Mosman unit on April 22 last year.

"There is evidence of blunt force being inflicted to Kate's head - both the back of the head and the left side of her face and some facial fractures

to the left side of the face," Mr Dillon found. "Bruises, lacerations and abrasions were found all over Kate's body. Some deep bruises were found on her back on the left hand side."

Concerned friends had asked police to check on her welfare because she hadn't been seen since leaving work five days earlier.

Her phone and credit cards were missing but texts linked to her mobile number were still being sent to her friends.

The source was traced to the Marriott Hotel on Queensland's Gold Coast, where Coulson was staying after going absent without leave from the navy.

When Queensland and NSW detectives went to speak to Coulson two days after Ms Malonyay's body was found, he jumped to his death from his hotel room on the 26th floor.

The coroner found DNA evidence, Coulson's flight to Queensland, his suicide, impersonation of Ms Malonyay and his unexplained leave from the navy formed part of the "compelling evidence that Elliott Coulson killed Kate Malonyay", Mr Dillon said.

Her death highlighted domestic violence issues and Mr Dillon plans to write to ask NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli to consider introducing classroom courses on abusive relationships.

"If we can help young people understand abusive relationships ... some of those tragedies can be averted," Mr Dillon said.

Mr Dillon passed his condolences to Ms Malonyay's mother, Wendy, for the loss of her "fine, much-loved" daughter.

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