Murder accused 'left rope by wife's body'
A husband accused of killing his wife by pushing her down the stairs left a skipping rope near her body to make it look accidental, a court has heard.
Prosecutors believe Alan Evans, aged 35, subjected his wife Louise to a 'serious violent assault' at the home they shared with their three children in Kidderminster.
Evans is accused of throwing her down the stairs and smothering her to death on July 10 at the house in Stoney Lane.
Worcester Crown Court heard Evans, a welder who had been married to Louise for 12 years, had been having an affair.
Mr Jonas Hankin QC, opening the case at the start of the six-week trial yesterday, said Evans was concerned about losing his share in the home and being stopped from seeing his children if his marriage broke up.
He said: "The prosecution case is that the defendant pushed or threw her down the stairs and if she did not die very shortly after then he smothered her to death."
He added: "He had subjected her to a serious violent assault." The jury was told that next door neighbours Hayley and Charles Weale heard Louise scream and swear at around 10pm on July 9. Mr Hankin said: "At around 11.30pm they were woken by an almighty crash."
Evans had told police that he had been asleep on a sofa in the lounge and had not heard his wife fall, the court was told. He said that a vacuum cleaner was found at the top of the stairs with its hose uncoiled.
Mr Hankin added: "The police say that the skipping rope was positioned close to her body to make it seem like she became entangled in it." Evans denies murder.
