Murder trial hears wife would ‘fly off handle’

ACCUSED POLICE INSPECTOR TOLD OFFICERS ‘I DID NOT KILL MY WIFE’

A POLICE inspector accused of strangling his detective wife said he had learned to ignore his partner when she became worried as she would ‘fly off the handle easily and regularly’, his murder trial heard.

Insp Darren McKie, who denies killing his wife Leanne, told police in a statement following his arrest : “I would describe Leanne as someone who would have irrational worries.

“By this I mean she would worry about a minor thing disproportionately or where there was no need to worry. I would describe her as someone who would fly off the handle easily and regularly.

“I have learnt over 13 years of marriage that the best way of dealing with this is just to ignore her and let her burn herself out.”

Insp McKie, 43, of Burford Close in Wilmslow, denies murdering Leanne, 39, a detective constable. He also denies manslaughter.

The father-of-three is accused of leaving work at Stretford police station early on September 28 last year to strangle his wife after she is said to have discovered he had applied for a £54,000 loan behind her back.

His murder trial has heard how the couple, who both worked for GMP, had amassed £103,000 in debt with loan firms and builders renovating their Cheshire home.

The prosecution say the officer strangled her after she found out about the loan application as the family’s financial situation worsened. Leanne McKie is said to have sent her husband an angry text calling him a ‘liar’ after she opened correspondence which included details of a £54,000 loan application and couple’s passports, which had been used to apply for the money.

On the eighth day of the trial at Chester Crown Court, the second of two prepared statements Insp McKie handed to police after his arrest was read to the jury.

The court has heard the defendant left work early to meet a surveyor to value his home for the loan, but Insp McKie said his wife ‘wanted it all to go away’ and didn’t want to be at home when the surveyor came as she didn’t want to deal with their problems ‘head on’.

In his statement, Insp McKie said: “That is why she would not stay at home even though she could have been there as she did not start work until 3pm. That is why I had to leave work early that day as I needed to deal with the surveyor.”

Insp McKie added: “I don’t know why she said ‘liar’. I was in a meeting when I got the texts so I could not respond. I know that her seeing the passports and the loan application would be her having to deal with the debt head on and would result in her behaviour as I have described as it meant she could not put it out of her mind.

“I came out of the meeting and I recall sending her a text ‘I’m coming home now’, by which I meant she could leave the house before I got back if she wanted. She replied ‘I’m scared now’ or something similar, which I took to mean that she was worried about the debt and was not suggesting she was scared of me.”

The jury heard that when police first interviewed the defendant, when he was asked what he could say about the death of his wife, said: “Nothing, nothing. Until officers arrived at the house this morning, I didn’t know she was dead.”

During the evening of September 28, he said he became concerned his wife, who was working a 3pm to 11pm shift at GMP, had not contacted him.

He said he was ‘panicking’ and went out to look for her on foot.

At the end of his final interview, the jury heard that he told officers: “I didn’t kill my wife. I have nothing further to say.”

Proceeding