Mum saw 'bruises' on daughter's body, court told

The mother of a woman who took her own life after she was allegedly abused by her husband has described seeing bruises on her daughter's body prior to her death.

Christopher Trybus, of Swindon, Wiltshire, is accused of the manslaughter of his wife Tarryn Baird who died in November 2017, aged 34.

Michelle Baird, from Swindon, told Winchester Crown Court on Thursday her daughter would need to "ask permission" from Trybus to use her house and car keys that were kept in a drawer in his office.

Trybus, a software consultant, is also charged with controlling and coercive behaviour and two counts of rape alleged to have happened in October and November 2016. He denies all charges.

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.

Michelle Baird told jurors her daughter had moved to the UK from South Africa with Trybus in 2007 when they were not in a relationship.

The pair married in South Africa in October 2009 before returning to the UK the same year.

Michelle said she moved to the UK soon after with her husband Alan and son Greg.

She told the court Tarryn moved from working for her in a recruitment company to working for her husband's software development firm, and would regularly send money back to her extended family in South Africa.

She added Tarryn had to follow a "routine", which involved her preparing lunch for Trybus which "had to be on the table at 12.15," she said.

"Teatime was at 3pm. She would make him tea, offer him tea and biscuits.

"When he was working, she was to sit in the living room with the door closed."

Michelle Baird said between 2014 and 2017, she lived within a two-minute walk from her daughter in Swindon and would see her at least once a day.

But that changed towards the end of 2015, when Tarryn would "always cancel" on plans.

"I questioned if she was okay, she'd always say she's fine," she recalled.

"She did say she was experiencing dizzy spells, problems with her heart, but she didn't want to talk very much. She said 'if I'm wanting to tell you, I will tell you'."

Michelle also described seeing bruises on her daughter's face, arms and torso on a "few occasions" between 2015 and 2017.

"It was the same every time," she said. "Fainting, hurting herself at the gym, falling in the shower."

She told the court Trybus had described her daughter as "an alcoholic" who would drink and take prescription medication.

The court adjourned for the day as Michelle Baird became emotional, saying: "It is just so traumatising to relive this nightmare that I have lived for the last eight years."

Trybus denies all charges and the trial continues.

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