Cash worries before lover killed

Eirlys MacDonald remained close with Gareth MacDonald after he left her

A man allegedly killed by his convicted conman boyfriend confided in his wife that his bank account had been drained of cash, a court has heard.

Glenn Rycroft, 33, denies murdering Gareth MacDonald, 30, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, in a Travelodge hotel near London in September 2007.

The Old Bailey heard how Mr Rycroft had previously been convicted of conning people out of more than £200,000.

It is claimed he killed his lover when he started questioning his past.

The court was told that Mr Macdonald and his wife Eirlys had been childhood sweethearts who had gone on to have three children

But in 2006 Mr MacDonald, a former pub landlord, left to live with Mr Rycroft, a former British Airways steward, after meeting him over the internet.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Mrs MacDonald, 30, who still lives in the couple's bungalow in Meliden, Denbighshire, north Wales, told jurors that her husband came out as gay in the summer of the same year after she overheard him arranging a secret weekend away with Rycroft.

Glenn Rycroft is accused of killing Gareth MacDonald

"I threw my wedding ring at him and just walked out the door,' she told the court. "I was very confused but I think with it being a man it made it easier."

She said they stayed close and she was introduced to Mr Rycroft.

She recalled how Mr Rycroft had initially lavished money on her husband.

But she later discovered that Mr MacDonald was paying all the bills and was worried that he did not have enough money, the court heard.

But, she went on, things had changed and days before he died on 14 September, 2007 he looked as if he had a "weight on his shoulders".

On a family holiday in north Wales a few months earlier Mr MacDonald realised his account had been cleared of funds when his bank card was rejected at a shop till.

The court heard Mr MacDonald worked as a carer helping people in north Wales with special needs.

He also had an interest in toys from the 1970s and 1980s and was 'doing well' by selling them on internet auction site eBay.

Mrs MacDonald last saw her husband on the Monday before his death when she took the children to see him in hospital, where he was receiving treatment for diabetes.

I think you have got a lot going on in your head and it is making you ill Eirlys MacDonald in a text message to her estranged husband

"He always seemed to be worried because he was always paying the bills and he never seemed to have money," she said.

He discharged himself from hospital on Thursday, 13 September in order to get some money out of a bank in Manchester, it was said.

Mrs MacDonald sent him a text message that day, saying: "Gaz if you want someone to talk to you known I'm here for you. I won't throw it back in your face.

"I think you have got a lot going on in your head and it is making you ill."

She expected her former husband to collect the children the following Saturday but he did not arrive.

Mr MacDonald was found dead in a motorway Travelodge

Prosecutors allege Mr Rycroft beat him to death with the base of a fire extinguisher at the Travelodge at Heston Services on the westbound M4, near Heathrow airport.

The couple had travelled to London in order to repay £5,000 to Mr Rycroft's uncle, which he owed following his conviction for the investment scam.

Mr Rycroft tricked relatives and friends to invest in a bogus British Airways Investment Bond, which offered huge returns.

He then claimed to be suffering from cancer, shaving his hair off to raise even more cash, but was secretly living the high-life by splashing out on a series of holidays, the court has heard.

The trial continues.