A FORMER solider strangled his wife to death just one year after their wedding when he wrongly suspected she was leaving him, a court heard.
Tracey Davies, 48, was discovered slumped on her bed by worried family members in Cefn Cribwr, near Bridgend, South Wales.
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Her husband Michael Davies, 57, was also found in the bedroom and had self-inflicted stab wounds, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Mark Cotter KC said: “Davies killed his wife Tracey Davies by strangling her.
“He did this on the bed in the bedroom of the house they shared together. He then stabbed himself.”
Newport Crown Court heard Davies allegedly killed Tracey after becoming wrongly convinced that she was going to leave him a year into their marriage.
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In the weeks before the horror, he had returned from his job as a private security guard in Abu Dhabi for “mental health reasons”, it was said.
Davies had allegedly made a number of internet searches for terms such as “paranoia”, “how to fight paranoia”, and “how to stop paranoid thoughts in a relationship”.
Jurors were told the former soldier was convinced that Tracey was about to “go off” and strangled her.
On April 18 last year, Tracey’s worried family members went to the home after she failed to show up at a concert.
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One of the witnesses heard a faint snoring coming from Tracey’s room but when he tried to push the door open, but there was something blocking it.
Jurors heard he was “suddenly met by the smell of death and felt a dead weight against the door preventing him from opening it”.
Mr Cotter said the room was “messy, there were clothes everywhere and a washing basket on the floor”.
When the man pushed the door open, he found Davies covered in blood in his pyjama trousers, it was said.
Jurors heard Tracey was “kneeling down, flopped over to one side of the bed” and there was a kitchen knife on the headboard.
Mr Cotter said: “It was clear Tracey Davies was dead, Michael Davies was behind the door injured with stab wounds and was apparently unconscious.
“The emergency services were called and police officers and paramedics arrived at the scene. Michael Davies was taken to hospital for treatment but was also arrested on suspicion of murder.”
A post mortem found Tracey suffered injuries to her head and neck as a result of forceful pressure to the neck.
Former soldier Davies left the army in 2023 before gaining security work in Abu Dhabi.
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He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denies murdering his wife by means of diminished responsibility.
The trial continues.