Chef killed wife with griddle pan, London jury told

A chef killed his wife with a griddle pan and put her body in a freezer, the Old Bailey heard today.

Peter Wallner was caught three years later after he put wife Melanie's body in a wheelie bin outside their home in Surrey, the jury heard. He was spotted in Malta when he came here with his new wife in May last year and was escorted back to the UK.

Wallner, 34, formerly of Hamilton Avenue, Cobham, Surrey, denies murder.

Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting, said Wallner admitted manslaughter, claiming he had not intended to do serious harm to Mrs Wallner, 30.

Miss Cheema told the jury: "The essence of the allegation is that on Sunday August 27, he killed his wife with at least one deliberate blow using a heavy cast iron pan.

"He then ordered a freezer from Argos and when it arrived a few days later, he put her body into the freezer.

"He left her there for nearly three years, telling friends, family and work colleagues and anyone else who inquired about her that she had died suddenly from natural causes."

Miss Cheema added: "When last year he had to move out of the house they had shared, he sold the freezer and tried to dispose of the body of his wife in a large wheelie bin which he no doubt hoped would be mechanically emptied into a refuse lorry.

"After the discovery of the body and after he had been arrested, he told police that he had hit his wife with a heavy pan during an argument and had done so in self-defence because she had attacked him."

German-born Wallner allegedly said he knew she was dead when he checked her pulse.

Because of decomposition, the cause of death could not be fully determined.

Miss Cheema said: "It became clear during the detailed police investigation following the discovery of Melanie's body, dumped in a plastic wheelie bin to be found by her landlords after the defendant left, that he had told many and various lies."