A software consultant accused of driving his wife to suicide threatened to harm her family if she left him, a court heard today.

Christopher Trybus, 43, also put a rope around his former wife Tarryn Baird’s throat after becoming rough with her when he wanted sex, the jury was told.

Trybus is accused of manslaughter, coercive or controlling behaviour and two counts of rape after Mrs Baird hanged herself at her Swindon home in November 2017, aged 34.

Community psychiatric nurse Serena Huxtable told the court she had several meetings with Mrs Baird in May, the year she died.

Giving evidence, Ms Huxtable told of how Mrs Baird had confided in her to say ‘Chris had alluded to harming members of her family should she leave.

‘She said she had given up and she did not care if Chris killed her.’

Ms Huxtable said she had discussed the possibility of moving her to a refuge for support, but Mrs Baird later changed her mind. She said Mrs Baird ‘spoke about anxiety and what it would mean for other people’ due to the alleged threats to harm her family.

At one of their meetings, Ms Huxtable said she noticed a red mark on Mrs Baird’s neck.

She added: ‘She said it was not from herself, she had not ligatured herself, but her husband had done it.

Tarryn Baird hanged herself in her Swindon home, aged 34, in November 2017 after her husband Christopher Trybus allegedly drove her to suicide

Christopher Trybus, 43, is accused of manslaughter, coercive or controlling behaviour and two counts of rape

‘The night before her husband wanted sex and he became rough. She did not want sex but she had not explicitly told him.

‘She said that she had initially tried to fight him off but he had got rougher and grabbed her by the throat with his hands.

‘She said he then grabbed a rope and put it around her throat. She said she tried to grab her phone but dropped it and broke it.’

Trybus developed high-tech software to track her movements, the trial has previously heard.

Ms Huxtable told the court how Ms Baird said Trybus knew where she had parked her car for one of their meetings.

‘He was aware she had not parked in the street,’ she told the court, ‘It had spooked her.’

Lisa Attree, a Wiltshire Police safeguarding officer, previously told the court how Mrs Baird said had tried to evade the alleged tracking software while hiding from Trybus in a hotel. 

He still is said to have turned up at the hotel despite Mrs Baird saying she had changed her phone, used cash to pay for the room and avoided driving to escape detection, Mrs Attree recalled in court.

The court previously heard claims that if she turned off the alleged tracking devices, ‘Chris came home and gave her a total beating’, an employee of Swindon Women’s Aid (SWA), who cannot be legally named, wrote in her case notes following regular contact with Mrs Baird.

A statement from mental health liason Jasmine Cowham at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon told of how Mrs Baird was admitted to the hospital following a drug overdose on April 17, 2017.

She reportedly did not want her husband to know she was being treated. 

Ms Cowham said: ‘Tarryn was admitted to the Great Western Hospital A&E following an overdose.

‘A referral was made to the mental health liaison team so her mental health could be assessed.

‘Her husband was on his way to the hospital and she did not want him to know she was being seen.

‘I could see that there was a history of domestic violence. I was concerned that we needed to act fast.

‘Tarryn made these comments, “I have had enough of everything. I have no one to talk to.”

‘She had to leave her husband at the right time when he was working out of the country. It would often be spur of the moment.

‘She believed her husband was tracking her movements.’

Christopher Trybus with his current wife Bea Trybus outside Winchester Crown Court

In relation to a previous appointment, Ms Cowham’s statement added: ‘He asked her why she had been to the hospital that day.

‘She had not told him she had been to the hospital. She told us that she did not have many friends or a support network around her.

‘She said she had been experiencing suicidal thoughts.’

Winchester Crown Court was told referrals could be made to relevant authorities, including the police, after it was deemed that she could be a ‘significant risk to herself’.

Ms Cowham also said her statement: ‘She agreed to all the referrals apart from the police. She said, should the police be called, that under no circumstances should they go to her property.’

The jury was told the previous time ‘did not end well’.

Trybus, of Swindon, denies all the charges.

He insists he loved his wife but her mental health issues meant she lied about his behaviour.

The trial continues.

For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit thecalmzone.net/get-support