'I did not murder pregnant wife', husband tells trial jury

A HUSBAND told a jury he did not murder his pregnant wife 20 years ago, insisting she had been depressed and spoke of committing suicide around the time she disappeared.

Andrew Griggs told Canterbury Crown Court that one evening in May 1999 he fell asleep on the sofa but woke up to Debbie Griggs shouting at him before she stormed out.

She did not return the next day and he went looking for her and contacted friends, but became worried and phoned police to report her missing. There has been no trace of her since.

The court was also told by his second wife Deborah that he was “caring, loyal, loving and generous”. Other witnesses described him being attacked by his first wife at the freezer shop the pair owned.

Griggs (57), who now lives at Ringwood Road, St Leonard’s, near Ringwood, is on trial accused of killing his first wife Debbie and disposing of her body in 1999. She went missing, aged 34, from the couple’s home in Deal, Kent, in May that year while pregnant with their fourth child.

Four days later her white Peugeot 306 was found abandoned just over a mile away. The boot lining was missing and forensic examiners recovered blood containing her DNA from the vehicle.

The prosecution has told the court that the couple hit trouble in their marriage in the early part of 1999, amid his ex-wife’s suspicions that Griggs was seeing a 15-year-old girl.

It has also been claimed Griggs was concerned Debbie would take their home and half the proceeds of the freezer business if they divorced. He told a friend he “wished she was dead” and had closed the couple’s joint bank account, the court has heard.

After electing to give evidence in court, Griggs was asked by his barrister if he killed his ex-wife. He replied: “No, I didn’t.”

Griggs claimed to the jury his ex-wife suffered from post-natal depression after the birth of their three sons and started to show similar symptoms while pregnant with their fourth child.

She had been “very down”, experiencing “mood swings” and “very difficult to deal with”, he said.

More than once in the past, he claimed she spoke the words “I might as well kill myself”, but he said she loved her children and denied he was trying to “blacken” her name.

Griggs conceded he had consulted solicitors about divorcing her after she locked him out of their home, attacked and bit him. On one occasion he made an “off the cuff remark” the baby she was carrying “wasn’t mine”.

He admitted in court he set up a new business bank account in his name, but only after he encountered problems paying bills because Debbie took the business cheque books. Griggs maintained his parents actually ran the company and it had been their and the accountant’s idea.

But he said he put the divorce proceedings on hold as he “still loved” Debbie. After they reconciled he had moved back home before she went missing.

Griggs told the jury there had been a “lot of gossip” in Deal after Debbie disappeared and he moved to live with his parents before selling the business and relocating to Dorset with his children.

He had been arrested around a year later on suspicion of sexual assault on a child – but he told the jury he was not guilty of that claim.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, Griggs denied he wanted Debbie to abort their fourth child or that by setting up his own bank accounts he was “cutting her out” of the business.

The prosecutor accused Griggs of being “angry” Debbie would get half their business and the family home were they to divorce, but the defendant disputed that.

Mr Atkinson told the court a neighbour of Griggs recalled having a conversation with the defendant, in which he had said there would not have been time for someone to drive from their home to where Debbie’s car was found, dig a hole and bury a body.

He said it had been a “long time coming” before asking the question “where did you bury your wife’s body?” To that Griggs replied: “I did not bury my wife.”

Mr Atkinson suggested the body could have been disposed “out at sea”, but Griggs said “no”. He also asked how Debbie’s blood got into her car. Griggs said he had “no idea”.

The prosecutor said Griggs had given different accounts about the time Debbie disappeared and whether she had “lots of money” or none on her and accused him of “making it all up”. Griggs denied that.

Griggs’ second wife, Deborah, appeared before the court. She said although the couple had disagreements they never rowed, adding: “Andy does not do that.”

Meanwhile, Paula Bradley – who worked at the Griggs’ shop in 1999 – said she knew the couple had been having “difficulties”. She said she saw Debbie hitting Griggs with clenched fists, adding: “She was very intimidating.”

She knew Griggs had initiated divorce proceedings but could not go through with it.

Another worker at the shop said she found Debbie pleasant but one day she arrived there and attacked Griggs, punching him and biting him on the arm. She also refused to leave without the company’s cheque books and was “agitated and very forceful”.

The witness continued: “Andy said to her, ‘say goodbye to the company’ and Debbie said ‘no, say goodbye to you’.”

Griggs has pleaded not guilty to murder. The trial continues.