Debt-ridden farmer 'killed wife'

Jane Wilson was a keen sportswoman

A debt-ridden Cumbrian farmer killed his wife to claim her life-insurance and start a new life with his lover, a court has heard.

Jane Wilson, 53, a village postmistress, was found dead at her farm in Kirkandrews-on-Eden, near Carlisle, on 1 December.

Her husband Robert, 40, is accused of attempting to cover up the killing by staging a fake tractor accident.

Mr Wilson denies murder and is standing trial at Carlisle Crown Court.

Prosecutor Brian Cummings QC told the jury that the farmer was a "devious man" and had been living a "double life".

He said Mr Wilson was having an affair with a woman he had met in Spain and had told his lover that his wife had died of cancer the year before.

The prosecution allege he wanted to be free of his wife and claim her life-insurance to pay off debts.

The court heard Mrs Wilson's death was not initially treated as suspicious and was thought to have been the result of her being accidently run over by her husband in a tractor.

However, concerns were later raised by Mrs Wilson's grown up children from a previous marriage.

The trial continues.