A husband started a 'tsunami' of domestic abuse which allegedly drove his wife to suicide after she asked his mother to move out their home, a court has heard.
Christopher Trybus, of Swindon, Wiltshire, is accused of the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird, who took her own life aged 34 in November 2017.
The trial has heard how Ms Baird died of hanging at her home in Swindon and left a note which said: 'To my family, I am so sorry but I just couldn't take it any more.'
Trybus, 43, also faces charges at Winchester Crown Court of controlling and coercive behaviour and two charges of rape.
He allegedly controlled his wife by using and threatening violence towards her, sexually assaulting her, threatening to reveal private information to her family, monitoring her whereabouts, limiting access to finance and isolating her from her family.
And the court heard today that Trybus's campaign of abuse began when Ms Baird asked his mother to move out of their house, leaving him 'furious'.
Trybus did not forgive Ms Baird and he subjected her to an ongoing spate of assaults before her death, the jury was told.
His mother lived with the couple between August and October 2015 at their home in Swindon.
Christopher Trybus, pictured outside Winchester Crown Court on Friday with his new wife Bea
The court previously heard her presence caused friction between the pair and 'made matters more difficult at home'.
Prosecutor Tom Little told the court today: 'Chris was furious and hadn't forgiven her. This is when the assaults started.'
A Swindon Women's Aid (SWA) worker today told the court that 'things escalated into physical violence' following Ms Baird's attempt to have her husband's mother leave the house.
She told the worker in October 2016 that she was worried Trybus would lose his job if she reported him over the abuse, which included 'put[ting] a rope around her neck and strangl[ing] her' in October 2016.
Mr Little added: 'She said she wanted to make him angry enough to kill her.'
The next month, she discussed the possibility of going to a refuge and told the SWA worker that she contemplates ending her life 'when she sees no way out'.
After going to hospital for an injury, Ms Baird told the worker that her husband knew she was there somehow.
'How does he know I'm here? I will never get away from him, this is why I haven't come to the refuge, he will never leave me alone,' she told the worker.
Ms Baird also said she believed Trybus had tracked her with a running app she had used and had beaten her with a stick used to open the loft door.
In January 2017, she told the SWA worker about an incident involving her husband putting a rope around her neck causing her to pass out.
Defending Trybus, Katy Thorne KC told the court on Wednesday that said Trybus denied sexual assaults against Ms Baird and the injury presented by Ms Baird to her neck was caused by a 'collar' worn during sex and an audio recording from her phone was of a 'kinky bondage type sex' that was consensual.
The SWA worker also told the court that Ms Baird told her she believed Trybus thought he had killed her after a 'particularly violent attack' and fled the house.
She was strangled until she was unconscious and he was not in the house by the time she regained consciousness, it was heard.
In January 2017, Ms Baird told the SWA worker she believed Trybus knew 'lots of dangerous people in South Africa' and he suggested he arranged for her cousin's husband to be driven off the road and assaulted in January 2017.
Speaking about her family, she said: 'She would rather die than cause them harm.'
In May 2017, she told Trybus she was going to the shops and instead went to a refuge where she shared her worries about 'what happens next'.
Tarryn Baird, pictured, died of hanging at her Swindon home in November 2017 aged 34
She left the refuge after receiving a call from Trybus.
In June, Ms Baird told the SWA worker she had been attacked about two weeks beforehand.
'Tarryn says she thinks he left because he thought he killed her,' Mr Little said.
'It was a particularly violent attack - strangled until unconscious, he was gone when she came around.
'She thinks he's tracking her as he seems to know when she's been to the gym.'
This included when she had been in a panic and had gone to the gym at 3am one night.
In September 2017, Ms Baird told the SWA worker that 'she can't believe she's still alive', and said Trybus had drowned her and beaten her with a metal bar.
Mr Little previously told the court Ms Baird's GP noticed her physical injuries on multiple occasions between January 2016 and July 2016.
But Ms Thorne told the jury on Wednesday that he denies the allegations and said Ms Baird presented a 'facade' to health professionals because of her own mental health issues and was 'addicted to the attention' she got from making allegations.
She said: 'This without question is a tragic case, a young woman has died and she took her own life and nothing you decide in this courtroom can alter the grief and loss of those who loved her.'
Ms Thorne added: 'The defence position is Christopher Trybus was never abusive to his wife, he didn't beat her, he didn't break her, he didn't coerce her, control her and he didn't cause her death.
'On the contrary, he loved her and cherished her deeply and his case is that without anyone's knowledge, Tarryn Baird was making demonstrably false allegations to health professionals.
'There are injuries but the defence case is that on a number of occasions Tarryn Baird made allegations of violence which were demonstrably false, for example, by reporting injuries to health professionals when Christopher Trybus was not even in the country.
'The defence case is that one obvious example of that on November 16, he says that he was out of the country, having left on 8th November and not returned until 23rd November.
'And yet during that period, Tarryn Baird made more than one set of allegations of domestic violence and took photographs of injuries, each of which she said was caused by him.'
Ms Thorne told the jury they should question the 'reliability' of Ms Baird's claims and said: 'You will hear that Tarryn Baird had mental health problems which were longstanding and the defence case is that she was desperately seeking help and feeling she wasn't receiving it and she may have become addicted to the attention that her allegations brought.
'The defence case is that the reason why she never made the allegations to the police or went to a refuge was because the allegations weren't true and she didn't want that fact to be exposed.'
Ms Thorne said Trybus denied sexual assaults against Ms Baird and added: 'Theirs was a healthy, consensual marital sex life enjoyed by both of them.
Trybus and wife Bea pictured outside Winchester Crown Court on February 25, 2026
'It included some practices which may not be familiar or comfortable to everyone, including bondage and rough sex.
'What goes on in other people's bedrooms can be surprising, the defence case is that it was consensual.'
Ms Thorne continued: 'The allegations of Tarryn Baird being trapped and controlled, the defence says are untrue and the defence will suggest that they will turn out to be just false.
'You will need to consider her claims that she was being financially controlled or kept away from family and friends bears scrutiny, his case is the absolute opposite is true.'
She added: 'Health professionals were being told a false story and her boredom and troubled mind was leading her to make allegations to seek care and attention.'
Ms Thorne said that the jury would need to consider if Ms Baird's suicide was a 'cry for help that went tragically wrong'.
She added that Trybus's actions were not a cause of Ms Baird's suicide and said: 'The defence case is that there are other matters such as her mental health difficulties and withdrawal of services from her which led her to take her own life.'
Trybus, who is a software consultant and developer, denies the charges and the trial continues.
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