Man 'threatened to snap wife's neck', court told

A woman who took her own life had told her family that her husband had threatened to "snap her neck and dissolve her body in acid", a court has heard.

Christopher Trybus, of Swindon in Wiltshire, is accused of the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird, who died in November 2017 at the age of 34.

Tarryn's mother, Michelle Baird, told Winchester Crown Court her daughter said to her that Trybus threatened he would "snap my neck in a heartbeat, cut up my body, dissolve it in acid and nobody would find me".

Trybus, 43, also faces charges of controlling and coercive behaviour and two charges of rape, alleged to have happened in 2016. He denies all charges.

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Baird told the court that she said to Christopher, "Are you sick? If I don't find my daughter I will come looking for her", to which he laughed and began to "tell me how he would do it".

Jurors also heard that as Baird was leaving, she discussed Christmas plans with her daughter, who replied by saying, "There won't be a Christmas this year".

Following Tarryn attempting to take her own life in September 2017, her family had a meeting because they were "very concerned", the court was told.

Baird said: "I did put forward that Tarryn needed 24-hour care and they should look at private care as they could afford it.

"The Priory was brought up, they were going to look at it together."

This care never materialised, and Baird told the court her daughter said this was because Trybus claimed it was too expensive.

Trybus and Tarryn Baird moved to England from South Africa in 2007. The Baird family followed them to England in 2014 and moved to a property close to the couple's home.

The coercive control charge alleges that Trybus controlled Baird through 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.

The trial continues.

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