Wife 'feared husband would harm family', court told

A woman who took her own life after allegedly suffering physical and sexual abuse by her husband feared "he would harm her family" if she left him, a court has heard.

Tarryn Baird, 34, was found dead at her home in Swindon, Wiltshire in November 2017 after she was allegedly subject to a "tsunami" of domestic violence.

Christopher Trybus, 43, of Swindon, is charged with manslaughter, controlling and coercive behaviour and two counts of rape at Winchester Crown Court. He denies all the charges.

Abigail Ayre, a former employee of Swindon Women's Aid, told the court that Baird had discussed moving into a women's refuge before her death but she was "worried about what would happen to her family".

The coercive control charge alleges that Trybus controlled his wife using and threatening violence towards her, sexually abusing her, monitoring her whereabouts, limiting her access to money, threatening to reveal private information to her family, and isolating her from her family.

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On Wednesday, the jury heard how Baird contacted Swindon Women's Aid on 22 May 2017 and met with Ayre that evening to discuss moving to a refuge, but she decided against it when she received a call from her husband.

"We discussed her options and during discussing she had a call from [Trybus] and that was when she said she would think about her options," Ayre told the court.

She said it was then that Baird became "distant".

"I was worried for her," she added.

"There were worries of further physical violence".

Ayre said that Baird told her she had kept a memory card full of images of bruising "that her partner had done".

"She would keep them off of her phone but keep them on a memory card", she told Tom Little KC, prosecuting.

"I remember seeing bruising but I can't remember where they were," Ayre said.

The court previously heard how Trybus, a software consultant, "developed a software" to track Baird, and she wanted to leave the relationship but was "fearful of repercussions that would follow".

Defence barrister Katy Thorne KC previously said Trybus was "never abusive to his wife", and instead "loved and cherished her deeply".

Trybus denies any wrongdoing and the trial continues.

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