A woman who took her own life after allegedly being abused by her husband was stopped by a police officer in a previous attempt to end her life two months earlier, a court has heard.
Christopher Trybus, of Swindon, Wiltshire, is accused of the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird, who died of hanging in November 2017.
The 43-year-old also faces charges at Winchester Crown Court of controlling and coercive behaviour, and two charges of rape.
The coercive control charge alleges 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 from loved ones.
Pc Luke Hobbs, of Wiltshire Police, said in a statement read to the court that he had been sent to Trybus' home after police received a call of concern for the welfare of Ms Baird on September 19, 2017.
The officer said that when he arrived at the property, he checked the garage for Ms Baird.
'I saw a lady, she appeared to be about to step off a ladder on which she was standing, she had a rope around her neck,' he said.
'I rushed towards her and took her weight, I think I got to her before she fully stepped off the ladder.
Tarryn Baird, 34, was found at her home in Swindon, Wiltshire, in November 2017
Christopher Trybus arriving at Winchester Crown Court where he is on trial for manslaughter
'Although her eyes were red from crying, she didn’t have any visible injuries.'
Pc Hobbs said Ms Baird told him that 'her husband was out of the country and didn’t want her parents informed'.
He said that he asked her what had led to her actions, adding: ‘She said she previously had mental health issues.’
Pc Hobbs said that Ms Baird’s parents actually arrived shortly afterwards without being informed, and arrangements were made for Ms Baird to have a mental health appointment on the following day.
Earlier this week, the court heard from Ms Baird’s old school friend, who said that Trybus raped her while strangling her with a belt.
Giving evidence to the jury, Carina Silva said that Trybus also hit Ms Baird up to 25 times during their ‘hostile’ relationship.
She said the abuse by Trybus had left her a ‘hollow shell’.
In regards to the alleged rape of Ms Baird, Ms Silva recounted: ‘She told me the pain she was in afterwards.
‘About that incident, she said how sore her body was and she couldn’t move her neck because she said to me she was strangled.’
Ms Silva said that in April 2016, Ms Baird told her she did not know how she got an injury to her face and, in June that same year, she told Ms Silva she thought an eye injury she got was caused by an ‘allergic reaction’.
The following month, she sent Ms Silva a picture of an injury to her abdomen which she said was because she ‘took a tumble’.
She said she also had an injury to her ‘personal bits’ which she was not going to show Ms Silva.
Ms Silva said: ‘I was at this point getting very concerned with Tarryn’s stories about falling.
‘I still sent the images to my Mum to keep as backup to have and ask for her advice on how to approach the situation.
‘I didn’t believe that all these constant bruises could be from falling.’
Around this time, Ms Baird said that she had a bruise from tripping over, but she said that she tripped as Trybus was ‘pushing his chest up against her’.
On September 13, 2016, Ms Baird sent an image of her neck injury to Ms Silva.
Ms Silva asked her if this was from rough sex.
Ms Baird said: ‘Haha no no, rough sex was the weekend, just took a knock to the neck and bruising really, really, really easy lately.’
Ms Silva responded: ‘Oh nice.’
Ms Baird then said: ‘Oh my God, do you think people will think it’s from rough sex if I walk around like this?
‘Oh good heavens, people are going to think I’m some kind of sex crazed weirdo.’
Ms Silva believed the injury looked like a ‘hickey from rough sex’.
She said: ‘We had spoken about it, she had told me that Christopher had put a belt around her neck.’
Ms Silva confirmed that this was on a separate occasion to the rape.
She continued: ‘About this one, she said that sex was getting rougher and rougher with him.’
On November 21, 2016, Ms Baird told Ms Silva that she had ‘woken up covered in really bad bruises for no reason’. She sent her pictures of both of her arms.
On what his explanation was for the injuries, she said: ‘He did explain that she had been getting quite ill because of the different medication that they put her on, so she had been falling or tripping.’
Ms Baird worked for Trybus’ company from home, doing his administration and accounts.
IT consultant Trybus is charged with manslaughter, controlling and coercive behaviour and two counts of rape in relation to Ms Baird.
Trybus, who was 35 at the time of Ms Baird’s death, is also charged with controlling and coercive behaviour between December 2015 and November 2017.
He denies the charges.
Yesterday, the court heard that Ms Baird took 25 photographs of injuries before she died which show bruising to her face, torso and arm.
She sent two of the photos to her mother, Michelle Baird, and the same ones to her husband Christopher Trybus - but he did not reply.
Jurors were also read diary entries from Ms Baird in which she said her husband got progressively rougher during sex with her and enjoyed it when she fought back.
In one from early 2016 she wrote: ‘I will never forget the day it all overflowed and he blew up.’
Ms Baird continued: ‘Progressively sex got rougher and the more I fight back, the more he enjoys it. It’s like there was this side of him hidden all these years.’
He has insisted he ‘loved and cherished’ his wife, telling lawyers her purported domestic abuse injuries were from ‘kinky bondage’ and consensual ‘rough sex’.
Earlier this month, the court heard how Ms Baird told a crisis hotline they ‘needed to send someone around’ because she ‘felt like ending it’ only hours before she was found dead.
His lawyers have suggested Ms Baird had ‘mental health problems’ and her suicide was a ‘cry for help that went tragically wrong’.
The trial continues.