I didn’t mean to kill my partner ..I just rolled on top of her when we were asleep

‘Controlling’ lover on 2 death charges

His history of behaviour shows him in a possessive, controlling, jealous way DUNCAN ATKINSON QC PROSECUTING

A MAN accused of killing two of his girlfriends claimed he accidentally killed one of them by rolling on top of her in his sleep, a jury was told. “Possessive and violent” Robert Trigg, 52, said he rolled on to Susan Nicholson as they slept on a sofa, a court heard. It came five years after he claimed to have woken to find a previous girlfriend, Caroline Devlin, dead in their bed. Both times he failed to call emergency services and both deaths were initially treated as being not suspicious. But after a review Trigg has been charged with the murder of Susan, 52, and the manslaughter of Caroline, 35. Duncan Atkinson QC, prosecuting, said: “Looking at each incident individually... one would have been forgiven for concluding the defendant had just been unfortunate in that wholly independently two partners had died. Indeed such a conclusion was reached by the police. “However, when the circumstances of each of the deaths are viewed in more depth... the position became very different. In each case the relationship is marked by violence. He has a history of behaviour that shows him in a possessive, controlling and jealous way.” Jurors heard Trigg had been cautioned by police for assaulting a woman two years before Caroline’s death. Trigg, of Worthing, West Sussex, claimed he woke to discover mum-of-four Caroline dead in their bed after a drunken night out in March 2006. The court heard Caroline’s daughter Codie found her dead when she went to make a Mother’s Day breakfast. Trigg had allegedly failed to raise the alarm, instead making himself a drink. The couple had a violent relationship but police decided Caroline’s death was not suspicious. Susan died in April 2011. Trigg is said to have made a cup of coffee and gone out to buy cigarettes before telling her young child she had died. Mr Atkinson said paramedics called by a neighbour “wondered how it was possible for two people to have fitted comfortably” on the narrow three-seater sofa, “especially as the defendant was ‘a big guy’”. Mr Atkinson told Lewes crown court the similarities between the deaths, both in Worthing, raised suspicions. A review of Caroline’s death, initially attributed to an aneurysm, suggested she was killed with a punch. Pathologists say Susan may have died after suffocation. Trigg denies both charges. The trial continues.

CASE REVIEW Trigg faces charges years on TRAGIC Susan Nicholson, left, died in 2011, five years after Trigg’s previous girlfriend Caroline Devlin, right