Mother of woman ‘driven to suicide by husband’ breaks down in court as she relives her daughter’s ‘nightmare’ ordeal including daughter with bruises on her body and becoming withdrawn

The mother, who was allegedly driven to suicide by her daughter’s abusive husband, burst into tears today, saying she was living in a ‘nightmare’.

Michelle Baird broke down as she described seeing the various injuries her daughter Tarryn suffered before her death.

Christopher Trybus is accused of driving his wife to suicide after repeatedly raping the 34-year-old, beating her frequently, strangling her with a belt and rope, beating her with a metal pole, kicking and punching her in the face and stomach.

In an unprecedented case, prosecutors said the defendant was legally responsible for his wife’s death despite being abroad when Tarryn was found hanged in the garage of their Swindon home on November 28, 2017.

Today Mrs Baird told Winchester Crown Court she saw her daughter had several injuries to her face and arms, but Trybus dismissed her concerns, claiming his wife was an alcoholic who kept falling over.

The mother, who burst into tears, said: ‘This is just traumatising. ‘I’ve been living this nightmare for eight years.’

He told the court the couple had previously tried to have a child but their application was rejected after Trybus admitted he was prepared to hit a child to scold them.

Mrs Baird claimed her daughter had once been “confident and popular” but had “withdrawn” after marriage.

Michelle Baird photographed outside court today

She described how Tarryn had to ask her husband for permission to leave the house and was under pressure to have lunch and afternoon tea on the table at the same time every day.

Ms Baird said: ‘Tarryn was going to make Christopher’s lunch. He was supposed to be at the table at 12.15. Tea time was 3.15pm and he was supposed to offer her tea and biscuits.

‘He would sit in the living room with the doors closed.

‘He didn’t want to disturb her, he didn’t want to make any noise.’

Trybus is accused of exhibiting ‘extensive and increasingly controlling, coercive and manipulative behaviour, including two rapes, sexual violence and other sexual assaults’.

Ms Baird said she questioned Trybus about her daughter’s injuries: ‘I asked what happened. The answer I get is that he keeps falling down, drinking, taking prescription medication, and it doesn’t stop.

‘He told me he was an alcoholic.’

Ms Baird said her daughter also hid the abuse: ‘She became estranged from her family.

‘This started in late 2015, early 2016.

‘He always said he was fine. He said he was experiencing dizziness. But he didn’t want to talk to me, he said, “If I wanted to tell you, I would have told you.”

Earlier the victim’s friend Libby Clarke told how Tarryn told her husband she was physically abusive after he was admitted to hospital.

Tarryn Baird was found dead at her home in Swindon, Wiltshire, in November 2017.

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

He told Ms Clarke police could not intervene because it would “kill me”, jurors heard.

The victim then allegedly told her friend that she had planned to leave her husband but had ‘broken down’.

Miss Clarke recalled: ‘When Christopher hurt her, she said it took the pain away.’

When asked what she meant, Ms Clarke replied: ‘To be beaten.’

Winchester Crown Court previously heard the 34-year-old was so afraid of leaving her abusive husband that she decided the only way to escape him was to commit suicide.

The software consultant denies manslaughter, coercive or controlling behavior and two counts of rape.

The trial continues.