Kidderminster murder accused: Case is absolute nonsense
A man accused of killing his wife described the prosecution's case against him as 'absolute nonsense' and based purely on the fact that he had been having an affair.
Alan Evans said his feelings towards wife Louise would 'never change in a million lifetimes' and denied that he had 'disrespected' her by resuming his affair with a teaching assistant three months after the alleged murder.
Evans is alleged to have killed his wife at their home in Stoney Lane, Kidderminster, and then to have 'staged' a scene, involving a skipping rope and a vacuum cleaner hose, to convince police she had fallen down the stairs.
Insisting that his wife was the victim of an accident on July 9 last year, the 35-year-old welder told jurors: "The whole prosecution case is based on the fact that I had an affair.
"All this has done is put a big cloud over my wife's death. I am not responsible for any of my wife's injuries."
Evans, who denies murder, also claimed the forensic evidence presented to the jury during his trial had proved he was in no way linked to any of his wife's injuries. Accusing prosecutor
Jonas Hankin QC of 'twisting' the evidence against him, Evans said: "My wife was not assaulted, my wife was not killed.
"I didn't push her down the stairs and I have never hit my wife in all the 18 years together.
"My wife's injuries are consistent with a fall down the stairs and I have never raised a finger to my wife – this trial is based on whether or not I have had an affair."
During his cross-examination of Evans, Mr Hankin asked him whether he thought it was odd that his wife's upper body showed no signs of abrasion despite her fall on a carpeted surface.
"It's odd that I found my wife dead," Evans responded. "I'm not a pathologist."
Responding to questions from defence counsel Rudi Fortson QC, Evans claimed he had rekindled his affair with family friend Amanda Chadwick, who taught at his children's school, after hitting a low point following his wife's death.
Explaining why he had resumed the relationship, he told the court: "After I had lost my wife, I had lost everything I had in the world.
"I hit a low, as low as a bloke can get in life – you either take the easy way out or you stay strong and wait for the truth to come out."
During questioning by Mr Hankin, Evans denied his wife had found something at their home on the night she died, which had linked him to Ms Chadwick. "My feelings for Louise will never change in a million lifetimes. I phoned 999 – I did everything I could for my wife that night," he told the court.
The trial continues.
