Barman saw late solicitor '˜with blood on his neck'

Mr Edwards, 51, was found dead in his bed on August 23, having suffered a knife wound to the heart.

His new wife Sharon Edwards, 42, of Parkers Wood Close, Chorley, denies fatally stabbing the well known solicitor just weeks after their wedding in Las Vegas, and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court for his murder.

Mr Edwards had confided in colleagues he was a victim of domestic abuse and injuries and incidents have been described to jurors by a string of witnesses.

On August 22 last year - the day before his death - he and Sharon Edwards had returned from a holiday to Majorca.

Sharon Edwards had been into Tony’s off licence in Chorley and bought several bottles of wine, shopkeeper Sharon Hughes told jurors yesterday.

CCTV footage of Edwards drunkenly returning to the shop later the same evening was shown in court.

The defendant cried in the dock as the footage showed David walking into the shop with a duvet, wearing a bloodstained shirt, and the couple arguing.

In statements read to the court, other customers who were present described her being aggressive to him, and then to them, when they tried to intervene.

Customer Gill Bibby, a care worker, said: “I noticed David had some scratches to his face. He also had blood on his hands.

“I was shocked by this and asked if he was all right. He seemed upset and quite embarrassed by the behaviour of his wife.

“One man said to leave him alone, that he had represented his sister, and she said: ‘He’s not a solicitor anymore, he’s been struck off.’”

David Harrison, a bar worker in the Duke of York pub in Chorley, recalled the couple came in on August 22.

He said: “ David had a cut to his head which was bleeding down his neck and a cut to his shin.

“A customer took him to the toilet to help him clean himself up.”

Pub punter Ash Rourke, who had known David for 15 years, says Sharon was constantly calling David and being abusive to him and he saw her slap him across his face. He says David did not react other than to push her arm away. He invited David to sleep on his sofa but he declined.

He also heard her say: ‘I got him sacked” and said she seemed to give the impression it was “a big joke”.

Another punter, who was worried about his injuries and advised him to get treatment, says she heard Sharon Edwards saying: “David, you’re a has-been.”

Earlier in the hearing, a holidaymaker from Coventry said she had seen the couple while on holiday on Alcudia, Majorca, with her son.

She contacted police after seeing an article in a newspaper about his death, and said on the holiday Sharon had thrown a drink in his face and was repeatedly aggressive to him.

She said: “She was very loud, unpleasant to him. There didn’t seem to be any affection.

“He was very passive with rounded shoulders and head down.

“It appeared he was hen-pecked.”

(Proceeding)