THE jury in the trial of a husband accused of murdering his wife has begun considering its verdict.

Anthony Williams, 70, choked Ruth Williams to death just days into the first national lockdown at their home in Cwmbran.

The pensioner, of Brynglas, Hollybush, denies the murder of his 67-year-old partner last March but admits manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Judge Paul Thomas QC summed up the case before the jury retired.

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Swansea Crown Court heard Williams snapped and murdered his wife over worries about coronavirus and money.

Matthew Roberts, prosecuting, said: “In interview, the defendant made full admissions to strangling his wife.

“His actions described by him, ‘literally choked the living daylights out of her’.

“It is the prosecution case the defendant made a full and frank confession during the course of police interviews to the offence of murder, ably demonstrated by the answer he gave in the police interview to this question, ‘Are you responsible for the murder of your wife Ruth Williams?’.

“His answer, ‘I am’.”

Mr Roberts added: “The prosecution say this was a persistent, very determined, very prolonged attack by the defendant.

“The prosecution say quite simply the defendant was a man who knew at all times what he was doing.

“His actions were clear and had one aim – prevent at all costs his wife leaving the house and seeking help.”

A pathologist found Mrs Williams died from pressure to the neck and had also suffered neck fractures.

The couple’s daughter, Emma Williams, 40, told the court her father was a “gentle giant” who had previously not so much as raised his voice to her mother.

She said her parents spent “90% of their time together”, were “not argumentative people”, and she had never heard either of them even “raise their voice” during their 46-year marriage.

Ms Williams told the jury: “My dad’s a gentle giant. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

But she said he had shown signs of strange behaviour from January 2020, which she recorded in an email written two days after the fatal assault.

It included Williams claiming he was going to lose the couple’s home, which they owned outright and had finished paying the mortgage on, and becoming “obsessed” with turning off lights and heating to save money.

She said the couple had savings of around £148,000, as well as £18,000 in their current account in the days before lockdown was announced.

Ms Williams said that on one occasion her mother had found her husband counting his shoes, appearing “confused” and concerned that he would not be able to replace one with a hole in “because of Covid”.

She added he was watching news reports on the global pandemic “all the time” and believed “no one’s ever leaving the house again”.

Consultant psychologist Dr Alison Witts told the court Williams appeared to suffer from “anxiety and a depressive illness that affected his level of functioning”.

She said it included his mental health deteriorating in the months before, as well as “longer-standing” issues with low mood and anxiety which became prominent after he retired from his factory job the previous year.

The trial continues.