Man 'caused wife's death by controlling her', jury told

A man controlled his wife through "physical and sexual violence", leading to her taking her own life because she could not escape him, a court has heard.

Christopher Trybus from Swindon in Wiltshire is accused of the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird, who took her own life in November 2017 at the age of 34.

The 43-year-old also faces charges at Winchester Crown Court of controlling and coercive behaviour and two charges of rape, which he denies.

Tom Little KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Trybus carried out "extensive and escalating controlling, coercive and manipulative behaviour including sexual violence of two rapes and other sexual assaults".

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It is alleged that Trybus controlled Baird, using and threatening violence towards her, sexually assaulting her, monitoring her whereabouts, limiting access to finance, threatening to reveal private information to her family and isolating her from her family.

"It took place over a sustained period of time behind closed doors and all of it during the course of a marriage," Little told the court.

"It led ultimately in November 2017 to a woman in just her thirties and whose name is Tarryn Baird taking her own life.

"She was the defendant's wife and the prosecution say that the defendant is legally responsible for her death."

Little explained that Trybus controlled "many aspects of their relationship" even from abroad using the "threat and fear of physical and sexual violence" leading to a deterioration in her "already weakened mental state and a cause of her deciding that she should take her own life".

He added: "She had not managed to escape from him, despite seriously considering doing so on a number of occasions."

A jury heard Baird, who worked at an opticians, left a note to her family which said a "dark cloud" was over her.

Trybus, a software consultant and developer, denies the charges. He said that Baird had been diagnosed as possibly having PTSD, having witnessed and suffered from armed car-jacking incidents in South Africa.

The prosecutor said: "Other things that Tarryn Baird said about the nature of the relationship were that the defendant had told her parents she was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and that this would prevent them believing her if she told them about the domestic abuse."

He described this as "classic domestic abuse perpetrator behaviour".