Man denies murdering his wife
AHUSBAND who strangled his wife told the police she had hanged herself in a bid to get away with her murder, a court heard yesterday.
Roofing worker Derek Potter denies murdering his wife of 16 years Lesley Potter at their home in Mumbles and he is on trial at Swansea Crown Court.
Opening the case, prosecutor Elwen Evans QC said the authorities did not immediately recognise there were “suspicious circumstances”.
The court heard the incident happened at the couple’s house on Hill Street on the morning of April 7.
Prosecutors said the pair got married in 1992, having both been married before.
The jury were shown the last images of Mrs Potter, who was 66, captured on CCTV as she went for a meal with her family at The George pub the evening before her death.
The court heard Potter called his daughter at 11.22am and told her he had found his wife’s body. She called for an ambulance two minutes later.
Potter called 999 shortly afterwards and asked if he needed an ambulance, He replied: “No, the person is dead.” Asked by the call handler if the patient was conscious, he said: “No, she has hung herself.”
And asked if she was breathing, he replied: “No, she’s cold.”
Prosecutors the authorities did not immediately have information that “raised suspicions” and Mrs Potter’s body was released for her funeral.
The court heard Potter met up with a co-worker on April 25 and confessed to killing his wife.
Ms Evans said: “He told her that he loved his wife very much, but she was ‘doing his head in’ sometimes and he had to strangle her.”
The court heard Potter asked the woman not to tell his daughter. He then told her that he liked her and asked if she wanted to move in with him. She reported the conversation to the police, who then requested a full autopsy.
Potter was arrested on April 30 and told officers he had made a cup of tea for his wife on the morning of her death before going out for about half an hour to collect some money he was owed for a roofing job.
He stated he got home and found her “cold” and hanging by the neck from rope attached to a piece of wood above the beam in the back bedroom.
He stated his wife was depressed and he had tried to persuade her to visit a doctor, but she would not.
Potter told the police his wife was dependent on alcohol, adding he used to be an alcoholic, but stopped drinking a few years previously after he nearly killed her by strangling her during sexual activity.
Ms Evans asked the jury to consider the “implausibility” and “inconsistency” of the defendant’s accounts.
She said: “We say that his story is a pretend story to cover up his manual strangulation and killing of her.”
During a post-mortem, Home Office pathologist Dr Rick James found ligature marks on her neck, which were typical of hanging. Prosecutors said he also found bruising above and below the ligature marks and deep bruising in the neck. Dr James found 30 rib fractures - a number he described as “extreme”.
The trial is expected to last for two or three weeks.