A husband accused of driving his wife to suicide has claimed a conversation about dissolving a body in acid was inspired by the TV show Breaking Bad.
Christopher Trybus, of Swindon in Wiltshire, is facing a manslaughter charge over the death of Tarryn Baird who died of hanging in November 2017 at the age of 34.
He also faces charges at Winchester Crown Court of controlling and coercive behaviour and two charges of rape.
It is alleged that Trybus controlled Ms Baird through using and threatening violence towards her, sexually assaulting her, monitoring her whereabouts, limiting access to finance, threatening to reveal private information to her family and isolating her.
The 44-year-old has now responded to claims that he talked about snapping Ms Baird’s neck, cutting up her body and dissolving it in acid – insisting his comments were in fact a reference to the TV show Breaking Bad.
When questioned by prosecutor Tom Little KC, Trybus claimed he was not ‘serious’ and that the remarks were not about Ms Baird.
He told the court: ‘The context of this conversation was a murder mystery show, possibly Breaking Bad.
‘Somebody might say ‘How would you rob a bank’ after watching a TV show, if you were a getaway driver what car would choose.
Christopher Trybus (pictured), of Swindon in Wiltshire, is facing a manslaughter charge over the death of Tarryn Baird who died of hanging in November 2017 at the age of 34
It is alleged that Trybus controlled Tarryn Baird (pictured) through using and threatening violence towards her
Christopher Trybus is seen arriving at Winchester Crown Court, where he is charged with the manslaughter of his wife
‘It was just a conversation, no way was it serious or threats, just something we chatted about. This conversation wasn’t about her, it sounds awful now, it was about how we got rid of a body.’
He added: ‘We did watch Breaking Bad and I think there was a scene where they dissolve a body. It happened on Breaking Bad, it’s not something I would seriously consider or think about seriously.’
Mr Little asked if Trybus thought it was normal to have conversations about how to commit serious criminal offences.
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He responded: ‘Not necessarily a serious criminal offence, but you could have a conversation about something you have seen on TV or a movie.’
At the hearing, Trybus also claimed he had taken his wedding ring off soon after Ms Baird’s death because he didn’t want ‘this constant reminder of her’.
He told jurors that people find it ‘difficult to understand’ that he took off his wedding ring unless they have been through the ‘same loss’.
Mr Little asked Trybus during a cross examination for an explanation as to why he took his ring off shortly after Ms Baird died.
Trybus said: ‘A number of reasons. Firstly, we didn’t always wear our ring out, especially when we were at home both of us, we took our ring off and on many occasions we would be on our way out the door, I would say ‘I’ve left my ring upstairs’ and she had left hers as well.
‘The other reason was it was this constant reminder of her, so I didn’t want it on me all the time.
‘I think unless you have been through this loss, I think people find it difficult to understand, but I didn’t feel I wanted to wear the ring at this time.’
Mr Little told the court that in 2016, Ms Baird carried out internet searches for ‘strangulation and domestic violence’, ‘strangulation wet myself’ and ‘urinating when strangled’.
Asked if he had any explanation for this, Trybus denied ever strangling her and said: ‘No, in her studies she had a course on domestic violence, whether this is related I can’t possibly say, but she never wet herself.’
Mr Little also asked Trybus about the bruising which he should have seen on a post-mortem report before giving evidence to police – Trybus didn’t dispute seeing the report, but said that he couldn’t remember seeing it before giving his evidence to police.
He said: ‘If I had seen it, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the bruising.
‘I may have skimmed past it and thought these are normal knocks and bruises one may have.’
Trybus, who is a software consultant and developer, denies the charges and the trial continues.
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