Husband 'murdered his wife then left skipping rope next to her body to make it look like she had fallen down stairs by accident when she found out about his affair'

A husband killed his wife by pushing her down the stairs and putting a skipping rope next to her body to make it look like an accident after she discovered he was having an affair, a court has heard.
The body of Louise Evans, 32, was found in the hallway at her home in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, after neighbours heard her scream followed by an 'almighty bang'.
Her husband, Alan, is alleged to have pushed his wife of 12 years and then smothered her as she lay unconscious in the early hours of July 10 last year.

Accused: Welder Alan Evans has denied pushing wife of 12 years Louise, 32, pictured together on their wedding day, down the stairs then smothering her

By the time paramedics arrived at the couple's semi-detached house the mother-of-three’s body was already cold and she was in the early stages of rigor mortis, Worcester Crown Court heard.
The jury were told that just before she died, Mrs Evans has discovered her husband had been having an affair with Amanda Chadwick, in her 30s, who worked at St Mary's School, Kidderminster, where his three children attended.
Mr Evans and Ms Chadwick exchanged 'thousands' of text messages including ones detailing sexual acts, the court heard.
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC told the jury the Evans' had separated twice before he begged his wife to return.
Despite claiming he would break contact with his lover Evans bought a secret SIM card so he could chat with her without his wife knowing.
Mr Hankin told the court: 'We know Louise Evans suspected the affair, we can also see from the text messages between the defendant that she did not accept that he and Amanda were just good friends.
'On June 18 he told her the marriage was over because he no longer loved her. She left to stay at her mother's taking the children with her, leaving the defendant in the house by himself.
'She returned after he assured her he would try to make the marriage work, but she confided in a friend that he hadn't been holding up his end of the promise.
'Louise went on the internet to check his phone records where she said she found thousands of texts between the defendant and Amanda.

Grim discovery: A neighbour found Louise Evans 'as cold as marble' at the bottom of a flight of stairs when she rushed around to her home in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, the court was told

'She called him at work with her suspicions. After that conversation Alan immediately telephoned Amanda and they spoke for an hour.'
Evans, wearing a grey suit, white shirt, blue tie and glasses wept in the dock as the jury heard how his wife was found dead in their home.
A couple of days before Louise died he bought a secret SIM card to make contact again.
Mr Hankin added: '...Rrather than end the affair he and Amanda Chadwick, who was at the time still married to her now ex-husband Simon, actually continued to plan for a life together, even talking about having children.
'And he continued that affair after his wife died.'
Earlier Mr Hankin had told the jury that Evans television and phone showed he lied to police about when he had been asleep.
He also revealed that Evans had been the first person to bring up the vacuum cleaner and the skipping rope in interviews.
Mr Hankin said: 'He told police he had seen the [vacuum cleaner] when he had gone to have a bath earlier in the night.
'He also said he could not remember how Louise was lying when he found her. How could that image not have been imprinted on his memory, the image of the person you say you love lying possibly dead.
'He was sober that night and there is no record of an illness that would prevent him from waking up, how can he not have heard his wife, who weighed over 12 stone, crash down the stairs.
'If she was conscious she must have screamed as she fell, and if she wasn't then there would have been an almighty crash.
'The walls were thin and the laminate flooring caused the sound to echo. It is inconsistent that he was asleep.
'He even told police he had been woken up by his children shouting and pushing over an iron. And he didn't sleep through his phone vibrating in his pocket.
'You will hear him go from calm to hysterics in the 999 call later, that 999 call is a sham.
'In reality we know that he had subjected her to a violent assault, her death was not an accident.'

Fatal: Mother-of-three Louise Evans, 32, was found dead at the foot of the stairs at their home on 10 July

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC had earlier set out the prosecution's case.
He said: 'This case is about the murder of Louise Evans, she was the wife of the accused.
'She died between the 9th and 10th of July last year. He murdered her at their home.
'Louise was found dead at the bottom of the stairs shortly before 1am on July 10.
'The defendant denies he killed her, he says he was asleep downstairs when she must have fallen by accident to her death.
'Examination of her body shows that she did not die immediately. She lay at the bottom of the stairs for a short time.
'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.
'A skipping rope was positioned close to her body to make it seem like she became entangled in it.

Denial: Alan Evans denies pushing his wife and mother-of-three down the stairs before smothering her

'When a neighbour who was a registers nurse came to help the defendant she told police that Louise’s body was already "as cold as marble" and that she thought it had been left there for at least an hour-and-a-half.
'Hayley and Charles Weale, who lived next door, shared a wall with the Evans family. The only separation was a party wall around four inches thick.
'They told police they had become used to living with the sounds from the Evans household.
'Mr Weale even told police he could tell when they were having sex, although that had become far less frequent in recent months.
'At around 10pm Hayley told police she heard Louise scream ‘oh my f**king god’, the walls were thin and Hayley heard every single word, ‘oh my f**king god’.
'This was unusual, Louise was never known to swear in front of her children.
'They then heard what Charles said sounded like something being dragged across a laminate floor and Hayley said sounded like the opening and closing of drawers and banging of doors.
'At around 11.30pm they were woken by am almighty crash. It was so loud that Charles got up and sat at the end of the bed, it sounded like it had come from within their own house.
'He said they heard reverberation from the double doors downstairs as if they had been slammed shut.
'If we look at the pictures of the house you will see that number 112 [the Evans’s house] there was also a set of double doors at the bottom of the stairs.
'Post mortem examinations were carried out by Dr Lawler, a home office pathologist with over 30 years’ experience, who has examined 1,363 homicide victims.

Tragic: Flowers for Louise Evans, 32, who was found dead at her home in Kidderminster, Worcestershire

'There were injuries to Louise’s face, it was concluded these were not from a fall as there was no abbrasion around the injuries.
'On further examination it was discovered she had a broken eye socket. Dr Lawler says this type of break is most commonly found from an assault.
'It is caused when pressure is exerted on the eye itself, changing the pressure in the socket and fracturing the thin bone protecting the eye.
'This injury would have been caused by a kick or a punch. Dr Lawler said the injuries to her face could have rendered her semi-conscious or unconscious.
'The abrasions and bruises on the rest of her body show that she was still alive when she fell down the stairs.
'No cause of death could be gained from the examination, it was recorded as unascertained.
'Dr Lawler said in his view it was most likely that she was smothered, but that no signs would be present of smothering, if she was unconscious there would be no signs of a struggle, and you would not need to hold the throat, merely close the airway.'
Evans denies one count of murder.
The jury was shown detailed maps of the injuries to Louise’s body as well as pictures showing her lifeless body lying at the bottom of the stairs.
They were told that a vacuum cleaner was found at the top of the stairs with its hose uncoiled in a loop by the bathroom.
Mr Hankin said friends told police this was 'very unusual', and that other than the skipping rope there was no sign of any other items left on the stairs.
Toxicology reports showed Mrs Evans had no traces of alcohol or drugs in her system when she died.
The trial, which is expected to take six weeks, continues.

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