‘Cheating husband killed wife after sending text to mistress on secret phone’

A cheating husband sent a text message to his mistress on his ‘secret phone’ just hours before he threw his wife to her death down the stairs, a court heard yesterday.

Alan Evans, 35, killed 32-year-old Louise after she found out he was having a fling with teaching assistant Amanda Chadwick, 30, who worked at the school where their three children attended, jurors were told.

Worcester Crown Court heard the welder tried to make his wife’s death look like a tragic accident by placing a skipping rope by her body.

An uncoiled hoover lead was also found at the top of the stairs after her death on July either 9 or 10 last year.

Yesterday jurors visited the couple’s semi-detached home in Kidderminster, Worcs., where Louise, a care worker, died.

It also emerged Evans sent a blank text to Miss Chadwick on the day of Louise’s death.

The court heard he bought a Virgin SIM card and GBP5 credit at 2.15pm on July 9 and activated it just minutes later.

A court heard the welder then sent a blank text to Amanda Chadwick at 2.26pm causing her to reply saying: “Who’s this?” four minutes later.

Miss Chadwick sent another text half an hour later with just four question marks and confided in a friend that she believed Evans had texted her but that he didn’t reply.

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC told the jury Evans exchanged “thousands” of texts with Miss Chadwick in the months before Louise’s death.

On June 29 last year Evans texted saying: “I love you baby. No matter how tough stuff gets.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be waiting for you always, I give you my word, weeks or months.”

Around the same time, Evans was also texting Louise – who had moved out of the family home with their three children – claiming he and Miss Chadwick were just friends.

But the court heard Evans, who had been married to Louise for 12 years, continued to contact Miss Chadwick and spent 41 minutes chatting to her from a phone box near his home on July 7.

Evans, of Kidderminster, Worcs., denies murder.

The trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, continues.