Husband ‘beat wife to death with saucepan then tried to hire prostitute’
After she compared marriage to Doctor Foster’s...
A HUSBAND killed his wife with a saucepan before ordering drugs and trying to hire a prostitute, a court heard yesterday.
Steven Grainger, 32, battered mother of two Simone over the head with the pan before strangling her, jurors were told.
The court heard how the childhood sweethearts argued frequently and she felt her life was mirroring the plot of Doctor Foster, the hit BBC1 drama about a GP’s turbulent relationship with her husband.
Reading Crown Court was told the couple had sex hours before the alleged attack on November 4 last year after friends left the house and their children went to bed.
Grainger admits killing her but denies murder, claiming he was acting in selfdefence as his 30-year-old wife came at him with a pair of scissors.
Her body was found the next day wrapped in a blanket in the kitchen.
Texts messages sent by Grainger, a technician, were read to the court detailing how he attempted to buy drugs and talk to prostitutes just after his wife’s death.
Prosecutor Francis FitzGibbon QC said: ‘He hit her on the head more than once with a hard object, causing serious injury and he then went on to strangle her.
‘Simone died of head injuries and due to being strangled. The defendant admits that he killed her but we say he murdered her
‘Grabbed her in choke hold’
and intended to or, at the very least, intended to cause her serious bodily harm.
‘It was unlawful, he had no lawful excuse and no legal defence. That makes it murder. It is on us to prove that this is the case.’
Mrs Grainger is said to have told friends about her turbulent love life hours before the alleged murder. Mr FitzGibbon said: ‘Simone told her two friends ... that her and Mr Grainger had sex the night before.
She said it was a bit like something from an episode of Doctor Foster. Despite Mrs Grainger’s anger and frustration they maintained a degree of intimacy.’
Grainger also allegedly sent his wife a message on the morning of November 3 which said: ‘I think if we argue again we will sort it out in the bedroom like last night. Xxxx.’
The couple had been an item since they were teenagers but had only just moved in with each other, the court heard.
They and their two children – a daughter, ten, and a seven-yearold son – had moved into a new house in a quiet cul-de-sac Calcot, near Reading, in July last
Childhood sweethearts: Steven and Simone Grainger year. However, it was said that Mrs Grainger was furious at her husband when he disappeared on the morning of a family trip to Centre Parcs in october last year and ruined one of their children’s birthdays.
In a statement to police, Grainger said on the evening of November 3 he was at home watching a video with one of his children while his wife socialised with two friends downstairs. After the friends left, the on-off couple watched a film downstairs and had sex, he said. He added: ‘ Simone went upstairs to bed, and I stayed downstairs and watched TV. Simone came downstairs and started shouting at me, calling me a f***ing weirdo. ‘I was still lying down on the sofa. She tried to hit me but I moved out of the way and grabbed her hands.
‘She went to the kitchen and came back with scissors and made stabbing motions at me. She told me, “why don’t you kill yourself!” I grabbed her in a choke hold. I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I held her for about 30 seconds, then she started to feel heavy. I let her go.
‘I went upstairs to bed, then came down at about 5.30am to go to work and found her, feeling cold. I wrapped her in the blanket that was over her.’
Mrs Grainger’s body was found the next day by her cousin, Karima Dernawi, who had become worried and let herself into the house with her key.
Jurors heard the saucepan found at the scene of Mrs Grainger’s death was covered in blood. Tests by forensic science experts found it matched hers.
Detectives launched a major hunt for Grainger and he was arrested at his mother’s home several miles away around ten hours later. The jury heard that on his arrest he told officers: ‘I know why you are here.’ Grainger denies murder.
The trial continues.