A newlywed husband strangled his wife of just five months after she found out through Facebook that he had been cheating on her, it was claimed in court today. Michael Roberts, 26, had affairs with two women during the course of his relationship with wife Vicky Roberts, 25, and told one of them he and his wife had split up in the weeks before she died, the jury was told. He had in fact professed his love for his wife and she told a friend she was determined to make a go of things with her new husband.
But she was later found dead at the home they shared in Runcorn, Cheshire, in December last year. Roberts had continued to cheat on his wife throughout their engagement and even in the days after their wedding with colleague Kerrie Hall, Liverpool Crown Court heard. When Ms Hall was made redundant, Roberts then embarked on a second affair with another colleague at Phones 4 U, Karen Wilson, continuing to sleep with both women until September 2009 when his relationship with Ms Hall ended. After Mrs Roberts found out about his affairs through Facebook and text messages on his phone, she confronted her husband – sometimes by letter – telling him she wanted him to end his relationship with Ms Wilson. But even on the day of her murder there were 244 contacts between Roberts and his lover by telephone. The court heard that Roberts, who denies murder, was said by Kerrie Hall to have ‘liked it rough’ and had put his hands around her neck while they had been having sex, causing her to bruise.
Mr David Steer, QC, prosecuting, told the court in the ‘context of this case, strangulation, is of some significance. Mr Steer told the jury that Roberts and Vicky met in 2006 when they both worked for Ikea in Warrington. They married on June 21, 2009 having both moved on to different jobs. They were said to be the ‘perfect couple’ to outsiders. ‘But sadly the reality was altogether different,’ Mr Steel went on. Roberts had told several of his colleagues at Phones 4 U, where he worked as an assistant store manager, that he and his wife had been having problems and he wanted a divorce but ‘didn’t want to look like the bad guy. He told one colleage, Lee Delaney, that Mrs Roberts, an account manager at Banner Chemicals in Runcorn, was ‘doing his head in’ and he had had enough. During a work appraisal, just weeks before her death, she broke down to her boss, telling him that she and her husband were sleeping in seperate beds. Mr Steer said: “Throughout their relationship, before and after they were married, he had been cheating on her, in that he became involved in affairs with other women. Vicky discovered it and there hence her unhappiness. The court heard that Roberts struck up a relationship with Kerrie Hall in August 2008 – ten months before his marriage. She later told police they had had a ‘purely sexual’ relationship and that he had ‘marked her on a couple of occasions. Mr Steer said: ‘On one occasion he bit her nipple leaving it swollen and bruised. On the following day she took a photograph of it on her mobile and sent it to him to show him what he had done. He replied saying the photograph “really turned me on”. On two other occasions during sexual intercourse he put his hands around her neck and applied pressure. He told her he had done this with a previous girlfriend and it was paricularly good at the point of climax, her climax. As a result of this she had a bruise to her neck.
Ms Hall also told the police that Roberts has a ‘rucksack’ of sex aids, including cuffs and chains.When Ms Hall was made redundant in April 2009, Roberts met another woman, Karen Wilson – although he and Kerrie Hall continued to have a sexual relationship until September 2009.By October 2009 Mrs Roberts had begun to suspect her husband was cheating and told a friend, Lorraine Lee, she had ‘proof that he had been having an affair’, after she found text and Facebook messages between her husband and Karen Wilson.She later told her friend that when she had confronted her husband he had admitted the affair but claimed it wasn’t sexual. He told her he would finish it, but Mrs Roberts later told Lorraine Lee she thought her husband was lying to her.Just weeks before Mrs Roberts died, her husband attended a christening with Karen Wilson and asked colleagues, who were also at the event, not to post pictures of him on Facebook as ‘Vicky had no idea he was at the christening.The following week he told Ms Wilson he had finished with his wife and they continued to meet up for sex.The prosecution say Mrs Roberts knew about this continued affair because the police found receipts for bar bills paid by Roberts in her wallet after her death.On the night of her death, the Roberts went to his parents house together. They left at 9pm to return to their flat on Sandymoore, Runcorn. It was the last time she was seen alive.
The trial continues.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
