Brexit row ‘led to wife killing’
Ex-Tory councillor ‘ran over 50-year-old in his Mercedes at new home in France’
A FORMER Tory councillor deliberately ran over his wife in his Mercedes after they rowed about Brexit, a court heard yesterday.
David Turtle, 67, admits killing wife Stephanie, 50, outside their French home but says it was an accident.
The couple, who had been together for 20 years, moved to Prayssac, south-west France, in 2016 from Bournemouth, where he had been a Mercedes dealer and councillor. They planned to open a bed and breakfast in the summer of 2017.
The court in Cahors, where Turtle is on trial for aggravated manslaughter, heard that in March 2017 the pair argued over what to watch on TV one evening.
‘Turtle wanted to follow a programme devoted to Brexit, which was not to the liking of his wife,’ the indictment said.
After an argument, he threw the remote control on the sofa, went to his office and fell asleep on the sofa. At midnight, Mrs Turtle came down to ask if he was joining her in bed.
‘Not wishing to fuel the confrontation, David Turtle then decides to go for a walk outside and takes the keys to the car,’ the indictment said. The defendant said he heard his wife follow him outside but hadn’t seen her when he started the engine and drove a few yards. He stopped the £37,000 car and got out.
‘When he opened the door, he saw his wife’s hand protruding under the car,’ the court heard. He saw she was trapped underneath the two-ton vehicle and realised what had happened.
Mrs Turtle, a former council worker, suffered fatal injuries including rib fractures, a broken collarbone, broken shoulder bone, lesions in her lungs, abdominal trauma and a fractured pelvis.
Police believe she may have lain down in front of the car to stop her husband driving off but that he ran over her anyway. A second theory is that she received a blow to the head during the row and was placed in front of the vehicle.
Detectives examined the blog that Mrs Turtle had been keeping, in which she wrote that her husband ‘put possibly as much effort’ into his cherished car ‘as into the purchase of our new home’.
‘I have come to question if I might have slipped from the number one spot of Mr T’s affections… [Our] new Mercedes Benz E-class estate is clearly Mr T’s pride and joy,’ she said.
‘When leaving home, a physical check for traffic in our quiet country lane is required – I have to actually get out of the car. No eating or drinking is allowed in the car lest we get greasy or sticky
‘She was the love of my life’
marks on her leather interior.’ Turtle denies manslaughter.
In a dark suit and tie, and still wearing his wedding ring, he told the court: ‘I loved my wife and I love her even more now than before, because my heart is broken after what happened.
‘She was the love of my life, it took 40 years to find her.’
His lawyer Laurent Bruneau said: ‘He had no intention of killing his wife and no motive. There is no proof of criminal intent. It was an accident.’
The case continues.