A man accused of driving his wife to suicide through a ‘tsunami’ of domestic abuse has accused her of lying and claims he ‘loved and cherished her deeply’, a court heard today.
Christopher Trybus, of Swindon, Wiltshire, is accused of the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird, who died of hanging aged 34 in November 2017.
The trial has heard how Ms Baird, who worked at an opticians, left a note which said: ‘To my family, I am so sorry but I just couldn’t take it any more.’
Trybus, 43, also faces charges at Winchester Crown Court of controlling and coercive behaviour and two charges of rape.
He allegedly controlled his wife by using and threatening violence towards her, sexually assaulting her, monitoring her whereabouts, limiting access to finance, threatening to reveal private information to her family and isolating her from her family.
Tom Little KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Trybus carried out a ‘tsunami’ of abuse against his wife, including ‘extensive and escalating controlling, coercive and manipulative behaviour including sexual violence of two rapes and other sexual assaults’.
Defending Trybus, Katy Thorne KC, told the jury that he denies the allegations and said Ms Baird presented a ‘facade’ to health professionals because of her own mental health issues.
She said: ‘This without question is a tragic case, a young woman has died and she took her own life and nothing you decide in this courtroom can alter the grief and loss of those who loved her.’
Ms Thorne continued: ‘The defence position is Christopher Trybus was never abusive to his wife, he didn’t beat her, he didn’t break her, he didn’t coerce her, control her and he didn’t cause her death.
‘On the contrary, he loved her and cherished her deeply and his case is that without anyone’s knowledge, Tarryn Baird was making demonstrably false allegations to health professionals.
Christopher Trybus, pictured outside Winchester Crown Court on February 25, 2026, is charged with the manslaughter of Tarryn Baird
‘There are injuries but the defence case is that on a number of occasions Tarryn Baird made allegations of violence which were demonstrably false, for example, by reporting injuries to health professionals when Christopher Trybus was not even in the country.
‘The defence case is that one obvious example of that on November 16, he says that he was out of the country, having left on 8th November and not returned until 23rd November.
‘And yet during that period, Tarryn Baird made more than one set of allegations of domestic violence and took photographs of injuries, each of which she said was caused by him.’
Ms Thorne told the jury they should question the ‘reliability’ of Ms Baird’s claims and said: ‘You will hear that Tarryn Baird had mental health problems which were longstanding and the defence case is that she was desperately seeking help and feeling she wasn’t receiving it and she may have become addicted to the attention that her allegations brought.
‘The defence case is that the reason why she never made the allegations to the police or went to a refuge was because the allegations weren’t true and she didn’t want that fact to be exposed.’
Ms Thorne said Trybus denied sexual assaults against Ms Baird and added: ‘Theirs was a healthy, consensual marital sex life enjoyed by both of them.
‘It included some practices which may not be familiar or comfortable to everyone, including bondage and rough sex.
‘What goes on in other people’s bedrooms can be surprising, the defence case is that it was consensual.’
She added that an injury presented by Ms Baird to her neck was caused by a ‘collar’ worn during sex and an audio recording from her phone was of a ‘kinky bondage type sex’ that was consensual.
Ms Thorne continued: ‘The allegations of Terryn Baird being trapped and controlled, the defence says are untrue and the defence will suggest that they will turn out to be just false.
Tarryn Baird (pictured), 34, died of hanging at her Swindon home in November 2017
‘You will need to consider her claims that she was being financially controlled or kept away from family and friends bears scrutiny, his case is the absolute opposite is true.’
She added: ‘Health professionals were being told a false story and her boredom and troubled mind was leading her to make allegations to seek care and attention.’
Ms Thorne said that the jury would need to consider if Ms Baird’s suicide was a ‘cry for help that went tragically wrong’.
She added that Trybus’s actions were not a cause of Ms Baird’s suicide and said: ‘The defence case is that there are other matters such as her mental health difficulties and withdrawal of services from her which led her to take her own life.’
Trybus, who is a software consultant and developer, denies the charges and the trial continues.
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