A woman is said to have killed her husband and hid his body in a bag in their garden for weeks, a court heard.
Maureen Rickards, 50, was arrested in July on suspicion of the murder of Jeremy Rickards, 65, after his resolutive body was found by the police in their house in Canterbury, Kent.
She is repeatedly accused of her husband in the chest and by stabbing the heart before she temporarily stores his body in a cupboard in their bedroom.
It is claimed that she subsequently wrapped Mr. Rickards in his underwear in a trash can.
Allegedly she put his body in a canvasholdall and moves him two stairs to the bottom of their overgrown backyard – before they bury him under grass cutts.
Mrs. Rickards denies murder.
The 65-year-old was missing at the beginning of June by his family-with his last observation on 7 June.
His body was only found on July 11 after a police officer had recognized a distinctive 'morbid scent' in the garden of the Rickards' house.
Mrs. Rickards, depicted, is accused of repeatedly stabbing her husband in the chest and through the heart before temporarily storing his body – dressed in his underwear – in a cupboard in their bedroom
Maureen Rickards, 50, was arrested in July on suspicion of killing Jeremy Rickards, 65, after his resolutive body in their house in Canterbury, Kent
Canterbury Crown Court was told how in the run -up to Mr. Rickards' body, Mrs. Rickards is supposed to have sent WhatsApp reports to their daughter, Chima Rickards.
The messages claimed to be her father and claimed that he was in Saudi Arabia.
It is also claimed that Mrs. Rickards later told Chima that her father had taken his own life – gave the date of his death as June 9.
While he opened the case, the public prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC told the court that the date of death 'in fact perhaps' is 'is'.
It was these messages, and in particular their writing style, which caused the suspicions of Chima and led her to warn the police, Mr Corsellis added.
Jury members also heard that in the run -up to his alleged murder, Mr. Rickards had been in a 'battered and bruised' state – as seen by a taxi driver and staff in the nearby Thomas Ingoldsby Pub where he was regularly.
The Public Prosecution Service argues that this evidence demonstrated that the 50-year-old her husband had subjected to domestic violence that was reportedly 'more serious' in his last days.
The physical state of Mr. Rickards was described as' brittle and vulnerable ' – and that Mrs. Rickards' police found several speech recordings on her phone after the arrest of Mrs. Rickards in which she pulled her husband while he was confused on the floor.
In one admission she could also be heard “express her intention to harm and kill,” the court heard.
Mr. Corsellis told the court that pathologists had found the man who suffered five stab wounds, two of which were 11 cm deep, as well as several broken ribs, a break in a bone in his neck and a broken nose.
The human remains were found in the building in Canterbury, Kent, depicted
There was also a 'sharp force' stitch wound on his head in which metal fragments were present.
'The crown suggests that the number and the extent [of injuries] Found every realistic suggestion excluding that Jeremy Rickards had suffered a tragic accident or even that these wounds were inflicted, “Mr Corsellis told jury members.
“There is [also] Proof of earlier injuries in accordance with Mr. Rickards who in the past are the victims of illegal attack.
“The crown case is that Mr. Rickards had been the subject of serious domestic violence by the defendant in the run -up to this murder.”
Mr. Rickards was last seen on 7 June who arrived in his house in Canterbury.
The geologist, who would often travel for work, stayed in an Airbnb in the city – but later returned to the building he shared with Mrs. Rickards on St Martin's Road.
A tenant of the house said they saw Mr. Rickards deeply 'injured' on 6 June – with a slice on his forehead and bruises in his eyes and ears.
When asked what had happened to his face, he reportedly answered: “Maureen was in a bad mood with me and with everyone.”
In the meantime, a taxi driver who had driven Mr. Rickards to the address later claimed to the police that he had been so weak that he had neither the power to wear his bags, nor beat the front door.
Four days earlier, Mr. Rickards had called his brother in Middlesbrough and asked if he could stay with him for a few weeks because he “had problems with Maureen again.”
However, his brother or sister has never heard of him again.
Mr. Rickards was missing at the beginning of June and police officers visited his house and Mrs. Rickards in Canterbury on July 7.
However, officers found 'no trace of existence' of the geologist.
Mrs. Rickards told officers at the time that although she and her husband were divorced, he would occasionally stay with her.
She added that she had not spoken to him 'weeks' and said that he might have taken a job in Saudi Aarabia or his brother had been visiting.
She was initially arrested on suspicion of fraud after officers discovered that she had used her husband's bank card in various stores in Canterbury between June 20 and June 30.
Among her purchases were alcohol, cigarettes, doritos, toilet paper, Febreze air freshener and carpet shampoo disappears.
But after his body was found, she was re -arrested on suspicion of murder – to which she answered: 'Murder? Murder? Did you say murder? Which body found? '
The police later found DNA matches of Mr. Rickards on the blood stains on the carpet, the court heard, like Mrs. Rickards 'DNA on the BIN bag in which Mr. Rickards' body was discovered.
Mrs. Rickards, from St Martin's Road, denies murder between 7 June and 11 July last year.
The process continues.
