The Maltese wife of the main suspect in the "wheelie bin" murder case will not be testifying in the trial in which her husband faces charges of killing, storing, and then dumping his former wife's body in a bin in Surrey, England.

The couple, Lilia Fenech and German-born Peter Wallner, had driven to Malta across Europe. The UK police had launched a search for Mr Wallner, following the discovery of his former wife's body in a wheelie bin outside the couple's home in Surrey.

The van in which the couple were believed to have driven to the island had been found parked in San Ġwann on June 9, a few days after the body was found.

On hearing that he was wanted by the Surrey police, Mr Wallner voluntarily flew back to the UK and was arrested at Gatwick Airport on June 11. Ms Fenech followed him to the UK and was held on landing at Gatwick Airport on June 17. She was interrogated and released on bail against travel restrictions until the end of June. Her bail was dropped after the police informed her she was no longer needed to help in the investigations.

Ms Fenech consistently insisted she knew nothing about the body or how it had found itself in the bin outside the house she and her (then) boyfriend had just left in Surrey for a new life in Malta.

As the murder trial began yesterday, a spokesman for the Surrey police confirmed she "is not due to be a witness".

Mr Wallner is standing trial in London's Old Bailey for the murder of his first wife, Melanie.

Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema told jurors that Ms Wallner, a 34-year-old chef, had killed his wife with a cast iron pan and kept her body in a freezer for three years. Before moving out of his house in Cobham a year ago, he moved his wife's frozen body to a wheelie bin where it was discovered by the landlord, the prosecution is alleging.

The trial started on Monday, with the selection of jurors, and evidence started being heard yesterday.

Mr Wallner, is pleading not guilty to his wife's murder in August 2006 and is claiming manslaughter.

He told the police his wife had attacked him and he hit her on the head with a griddle pan but never intended to kill her.

According to the prosecution, that Ms Wallner, 30, was found to have been wearing an eye mask, indicated she could have been asleep when she was attacked.

"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," Ms Cheema said.

She accused Mr Wallner of spinning a web of lies, sending texts and using his wife's credit card before claiming a week later that she died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. He even held a memorial service for her and put ashes from a barbecue into an urn, claiming she had been cremated, said Ms Cheema.

The prosecution also alleges that Mr Wallner slept with another woman, wedding planner Emma Harrison, soon after the murder while his dead wife's body lay in the house. He had bought Ms Harrison champagne at a romantic dinner to celebrate his 31st birthday.

Before moving out of his Surrey house, last June, he dumped the frozen body in a wheelie bin. Dustmen refused to take the plastic bin because it was too heavy and the landlord saw the dead woman's ankle when he opened it, the jury heard.

It is not clear whether Ms Fenech is attending the trial in the UK because she preferred not to comment when contacted on a mobile phone.

Court reporting by the Press Association.

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