A HEREFORDSHIRE undertaker charged with murdering his wife was “fed up” with her and moaned she never cooked, a jury heard.

Farmer’s wife Audrey Brooks told Worcester Crown Court she believed John Taylor was seeing another woman in the months before his wife Alethea went missing.

She said Taylor, who stored his hearse on her farm, began using his mobile phone more than usual.

“He was moaning that she never cooked. I thought he was a bit fed up with her,” said Mrs Brooks.

The day before Taylor was arrested by police in June last year, he called at the farm and was invited inside.

Mrs Brooks believed he was in a financial mess and said he had unsuccessfully sought help from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Her husband Peter asked Taylor what he thought had happened to his wife.

"He said ‘she's dead’. I found it upsetting,” said Mrs Brooks.

“I said I hoped she had gone to a retreat, to get away from it all because she was unhappy.

“I said she’s alive but he said ‘no, she’s dead, if they find her they won't know how she died’."

Taylor, aged 61, of Mortimer Drive, Orleton denies murder and claims his wife went missing in January last year while suffering from a mental condition. She has never been found. 

The trial continues.