Man 'horrified' at bath murder claim

A MAN accused of trying to electrocute his wife in the bath yesterday told of his horror when she accused him of wanting to kill her.

'I was completely shaken by the whole scenario. I didn't know what to think or to say,' Peter Ellis, 34, said of charges that he secretly wired the bath to the electricity mains.

Giving evidence in his defence at Cardiff Crown Court, Mr Ellis told the jury his wife Lisa, 32, called him to the bathroom at their home in Rhiwbina, South Glamorgan. He said: 'She sat down on the edge of the toilet seat and was saying, 'I have had a shock, I have had a shock'. Then she accused me of trying to murder her in the bath. I said, 'Don't be daft, don't be stupid, how can you have a shock in the bath? I said I didn't know how it happened. I said maybe it was static. I didn't know.'

Mr Ellis denies attempting to murder his wife by connecting up the bath. He said he led her into the bedroom and tried to comfort her.

After the event, relations with his wife were very tense and a little later she learnt he had been having an affair.

Mr Ellis said: 'I was relieved that the double life was effectively over. I think Lisa was satisfied as well that her suspicions had been verified about my having an affair.'

The case continues today.