Murder-accused wife ‘lost composure in row over girlfriend’s alleged pregnancy’

A woman accused of murdering her husband lost her composure in an argument about his girlfriend’s alleged pregnancy before she found him “swollen” and looking “purply” at her back door, she has told a court.

Jurors at Stafford Crown Court heard that Amy Pugh, 34, threw pregnancy tests at her husband on the evening of March 22 2022 at the family home in Aston Drive, Newport, Shropshire, before he died with compression to his neck and fractures to the structure of his neck, as well as a fractured nose and eye socket.

Pugh, who is on trial accused of murdering 30-year-old Kyle Pugh, gave evidence on Thursday and told the jury she went to a shop to get two bottles of orangeade and a bottle of vodka before he told her his girlfriend might be pregnant, which “progressed into a bit of an argument”.

She told the court: “I was trying to ignore him and ignore the situation. When he said to me that she said she can’t do a pregnancy test until her next missed period, I lost my composure. You can take a pregnancy test whenever.

“He looked more … in a bit of a panic than anything else. I went into the bathroom and got the pregnancy tests, threw them at him, and said ‘make her take a pregnancy test’. He was backing up to the front door as I was throwing pregnancy tests at him.

“I said to him if it comes back negative, come back and make sure nothing like this happens again. If it comes back positive, I will sign the divorce papers before the week’s out.”

Pugh said she saw her husband leave through the front door and she believed he was “going to sort it out” and “see if she was pregnant or not”.

She told the court that later that evening, she opened the back door to let her dog out when she saw Mr Pugh hanging and his right hand came in through the door.

She said of his hand: “It was a different colour, it was almost like he had been playing with ink or something. I instantly knew something was wrong.

“His face was like purply. It did not look like Kyle, he was a different colour. Almost looked like he was a bit swollen, like everything was bigger.”

She told the court tearfully: “He was not waking up like he normally does. He was not doing what normally happened, he was not moving, he was just there.

“I was screaming, I was shouting. I was repeating ‘he’s dead, what do I do, he’s killed himself’.”

The court heard that paramedics were able to restore Mr Pugh’s pulse but he died in hospital the next day.

Pugh, who was separated from her husband at the time of the alleged attack, was charged with his murder in November last year.

The defendant, of Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, denies murder.

The trial continues.