A football coach coldly asked police officers if he could telephone his wife moments after he had secretly murdered her in a brutal knife attack, a court has heard.
Chilling footage played at Chester Crown Court shows Anthony Kelly, 40, appearing remarkably composed as he told officers: "Is there any chance I can ring my wife?"
The gruesome reality was that Kelly had just stabbed his 40-year-old wife Emma 28 times in the living room of their home on Stanley Avenue in Crewe, Cheshire, before attempting to clean up the bloodbath.
A Marriage Concealing Dark Secrets
Prosecutor Michael Hayton KC told the jury that while the couple appeared to have a "perfect marriage" to outsiders, Kelly had been conducting an affair and had grown "tired of his wife".
On September 10 last year, Kelly launched a vicious attack on the mother-of-two while their children slept upstairs, inflicting wounds so severe that one stab penetrated completely through her body.
The Chilling Aftermath
After the murder, Kelly calmly changed his blood-soaked clothing and began cleaning the crime scene before eventually calling 999 at 2.24am.
When police arrived, they found Kelly sitting on the sofa appearing "subdued and calm" while his wife's body lay nearby. Bodycam footage shows the moment Kelly asked to call his wife, seemingly unaware officers had already discovered her lifeless body.
"I just need to know she's alright," Kelly told officers in the disturbing recording.
A Calculated Deception
The court heard how Kelly initially claimed an intruder must have committed the murder while he was in the shower. He even suggested the killer might have entered through an unlocked door.
However, prosecutors presented overwhelming evidence including blood-spattered clothing and cleaning materials that exposed Kelly as the perpetrator.
The trial continues at Chester Crown Court where Kelly denies murder but has admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
