Man admits hiding body in barrel

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A man accused of killing his wife and hiding her body in a barrel for 23 years has told a court in Australia he found her dead beside him in bed.

But while Frederick Boyle, originally from Peterston-super-Ely, near Cardiff, denies murdering her in 1983, he admits he has lied about her death ever since.

He told a court in Melbourne, he found Edwina with gunshot wounds to her head and one of his ties around her neck.

Mr Boyle, now 58, said he did not think police would believe him.

Giving evidence at Victorian Supreme Court, Mr Boyle,who had emigrated to Melbourne with his wife, said after going to bed on the night of 5 October 1983 he lay there for some time before nudging Mrs Boyle.

"I nudged Edwina and she didn't respond," a sobbing Mr Boyle told the court, as he tried to keep his composure.

I knew if I contacted police they would accuse me of killing my wife Frederick Boyle

"I put the light on and she'd been shot through the head and strangled.

"I went and checked the girls (his daughters Careesa, 10, and Sharon, eight), and they were alright.

"I went into the kitchen and cried for hours. I didn't know what to do.

"I thought: I am knackered now, (because) I had an affair with a woman and no one would believe me."

Mrs Boyle's remains were found by their son-in-law in 2006 in a 44-gallon drum kept in the backyard of the family home at Carrum Downs, in Melbourne's outer southeast.

Mr Boyle told people his wife had run off with another man

Mr Boyle had claimed his wife had run off with a truck driver named Ray when she disappeared on October 6, 1983.

During the trial the court heard Mr Boyle had been having an affair with Virginia Gissara in the months leading up to Mrs Boyle's disappearance.

Ms Gissara moved in with Mr Boyle the day after his wife disappeared, the court has been told.

Dressed in grey trousers, a white shirt and tie, Mr Boyle told the court he decided to make up the story about Ray and wrote a note he claimed was left by his wife, saying she was leaving him.

"I didn't know what else to do," he told the court.

"I knew if I contacted police they would accuse me of killing my wife.

"I have lied about it ever since."

Mr Boyle told the court he put his wife's body in a hessian bag, placed the bag in the drum and sealed the lid with concrete.

He said he put the barrel in the back of his white van, before eventually moving it into his backyard.

"My wife died in a terrible way and I was not going to let her remains be thrown down the tip like garbage," Mr Boyle said.

The trial continues.