FD denies murdering wife
A jury at Worcester Crown Court has been hearing the case against Shropshire funeral director John Taylor, who is accused of killing his partner of 20 years.
Detectives believe John Taylor attacked his wife Alethea in a bedroom at their house in Mortimer Drive, Orleton, near Ludlow, before disposing of her body; but Taylor, 61, denies the charge.
Transcripts of the police interviews that were conducted with him were read out in court by prosecuting counsel Mr Michael Burrows. Having been asked, “Did you attack her?” Taylor replied, “I have never, ever laid a finger on her. I am not that sort of person.”
Alethea, a 63-year-old retired primary school teacher, was reported missing on 19 January 2012 by Taylor himself, and has not been seen since. But the court has heard that forensic scientists found bloodstains in the bedroom which matched Mrs Taylor’s DNA.
Taylor attributed the stains to a nosebleed that his wife had suffered, and also told police that she had been acting strangely in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, explaining that he had found her wandering the streets on three separate occasions, apparently confused about her location.
Previously the court heard that Taylor had begun an affair six months before his wife’s disappearance, with a lady from the nearby village of Brimfield.
The trial continues.
