A FATHER-OF-TWO created a homemade ligature including a rolling pin, a hair bobble and a chain to strangle his wife - before inflicting injuries on himself to make it look like she had attacked him, a court heard.
Stephen Barnsdale-Quean, 42, of Upperwood Road, Darfield, allegedly murdered wife Chantelle, the mother of his two young daughters.
Sheffield Crown Court heard he then took a small knife to himself to cause 'superficial' wounds, before standing over Chantelle’s body and smearing her with his blood.
Thirty-five-year-old Chantelle was found dead in the bedroom of their family home in March last year.
Michael Slater, prosecuting, told the court: "The crown will argue he killed her by tightening a ligature around her neck until she was dead, using a chain secured by an elastic hair bobble and rolling pin.
"Once he had done this he gave himself injuries to create an impression he had been attacked."
The jury is set to hear evidence from Carl Johnson, the paramedic first on the scene.
Barnsdale-Quean says he was asleep on the sofa when he was subjected to a ‘frenzied’ knife attack by his wife and told police he had no knowledge of the circumstances of Chantelle's death.
He told officers he was ‘mortified’ when he was arrested on suspicion of Chantelle's murder in the back of an ambulance.
The defence is expected to argue that Chantelle, a pensions worker, took her own life after attacking her husband. Barnsdale-Quean denies murder.
The trial continues.
