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Lake woman 'threatened overdose' Lake woman had 'violent marriage'
(about 12 hours later)
A British woman whose body was found in a French lake had previously threatened to kill herself, a court has heard. A daughter of a woman whose body was found in a French lake has told a court about the rocky marriage her mother had prior to her death.
Robert Lund, 55, originally of Darwen, Lancashire, is on trial in France, accused of murdering his wife Evelyn. Robert Lund is alleged to have murdered his 52-year-old wife Evelyn and pushed her car into Lake Bancalie with her inside in 1999. He denies the charge.
Her body was found in her car in Lake Bancalie in 2001, two years after she went missing from the house the couple shared in the village of Rayssac. Mrs Lund's youngest daughter, Victoria Taylor, told the court in Albi, France, the couple's relationship was violent.
A friend of Mrs Lund's told the court how she had previously threatened to overdose on anti-depressants. She said she once saw Mr Lund, 55, hit her mother with a pan during a row.
The jury heard that Mrs Lund had squandered the inheritance left by her wealthy first husband, and at the time of her death was so poor that she could not afford Christmas presents for her family. Ms Taylor, 30, told the court that she moved out of home at the age of 16 to escape the fights.
'Cruel and manipulative'
The jury, sitting at the Cour d'Assises de Tarn in Albi, south west France, was told by Mrs Lund's sister, Elizabeth Camden, that the defendant was a "cruel and manipulative" man who was habitually rude to Mrs Lund's friends to drive them away and isolate her.
Evelyn Lund's body was discovered when lake water levels droppedEvelyn Lund's body was discovered when lake water levels dropped
Barbara Bullen, a retired nursing assistant who had known Mrs Lund for more than 20 years when she went missing in December 1999, said that behind a public facade of wealth, she hid a battle with alcohol. Mrs Camden said: "I think the reason why he wanted to move to France was to take her away from her secure network she had with her children.
Mrs Bullen told the court: "Evelyn wouldn't accept that she had a drinking problem and after she moved to France she got more and more depressed, and drank more. "We were all very close, and Robert was jealous of this, so he took her from her secure network and put her in the middle of nowhere."
"She was a very kind person who was destroyed by alcohol." Squandered money
Mrs Bullen described how Mrs Lund once locked herself in the shower at the remote farmhouse and threatened to overdose on tablets the doctor had given her for depression. Life insurance payments after the death of Mrs Lund's first husband Arthur Taylor, a building society manager, had left her well-off, Mrs Camden said.
"Robert was very good with her, very patient. Evelyn would drink herself into a stupor, but the next day it wouldn't be talked about," she said. By contrast, she added, Mr Lund had been living in a caravan when they met at a party in 1991, and after the couple moved to France he tried to persuade her to change her will.
She said Mrs Lund, who had three daughters from her first marriage, rang her on Christmas Day in 1999, distraught and very drunk.
The couple moved to France in 1997The couple moved to France in 1997
"She was upset that she couldn't send her children any Christmas presents - she said she had no money. The prosecution alleges Mr Lund, originally from Darwen in Lancashire, killed his wife and dumped her body and car in a lake to make it look like an accident so he could live off the insurance money at their farmhouse.
"Everybody thought she was well-off, but she had no money, and had even got into debt," Mrs Bullen said. Her body was found in her car in Lake Bancalie in 2001, two years after she went missing from the house the couple shared in the village of Rayssac.
Mrs Lund went missing in December 1999, but her car was only spotted in the lake two years later when the water levels fell in a severe drought. Earlier in the trial Mr Lund told the jury his wife had been a violent alcoholic who once attacked him with a kitchen knife.
Mr Lund has always maintained he played no part in her disappearance. The court had also heard that Mrs Lund had squandered the inheritance left by her wealthy first husband, and at the time of her death was so poor that she could not afford Christmas presents for her family.
He claims that she died after driving into the lake by accident. The trial continues.
The case continues.