A landscape gardener flew into an ‘uncontrollable rage’ and broke the neck of his teacher lover when she threatened to leave him, a court heard.
Trudi Burgess, 56, was left paralysed from the chest down following the ‘vicious’ attack by Robert Easom.
He pinned her face down on the bed, before placing his entire body weight on her neck until it snapped.
Preston Crown Court heard on Wednesday that, after calling 999, Easom, also 56, lied to police and Ms Burgess’ relatives, telling them: ‘It was just a frolic which has gone horribly wrong.’
He is on trial accused of deliberately breaking Ms Burgess’s neck in an attempt to cause her very serious harm.
Sarah Magill, prosecuting, told the jury that Ms Burgess is now a tetraplegic and needs 24-hour care.
The barrister said the mother-of-two was grieving the death of her husband from a brain tumour and was ’emotionally vulnerable’ when she met Easom, who was her sister’s gardener.
‘He offered his condolences and offered to do little jobs,’ the barrister said. ‘They fell in love.
‘It was initially everything she wanted – heady, loving and passionate but you will hear that he became abusive and violent.’
On one occasion, in 2021, the court heard, Easom wrapped Ms Burgess’ head in a bed sheet until she was unable to breathe.
Then, on another, in January, he head butted her in their car after she complained they did not have enough crockery or cutlery to host friends for dinner.
Easom has pleaded guilty to both those assaults and also admits breaking Ms Burgess’ neck.
However, he denies he did so deliberately and the jury was told they must decide whether he intended to cause her really serious harm.
Ms Magill said Ms Burgess became ‘alienated’ from her family because of Easom’s abusive behaviour.
However, by February 17 this year she had had enough and ‘finally plucked up the courage to leave.’
The court heard that she had stayed the night at Easom’s home, in Chipping, in the Ribble Valley, near Chorley, Lancashire, and was drinking a cup of tea in bed when Easom asked her if she was making cottage pie for dinner, which was her usual Monday routine.
She replied, telling him she would not be cooking for him and instead was going back to her own home, in Chorley.
‘She told him she wouldn’t be there when he got home from work and they needed to end the relationship as they were in a rut and nothing was changing,’ Ms Magill said.
‘His reaction to this was sheer blind rage.’
The court heard Easom said: ‘Why do you always f***ing do this? Causing an argument. You’re f***ing doing it again.’
Easom started pacing in and out of the bedroom and, fearing for her safety, a ‘terrified’ Ms Burgess started pleading with him to try and placate him, saying: ‘Rob I will stay, I will stay Rob, don’t hurt me.’
But, Ms Magill said, his rage was ‘uncontrollable’.
‘He went for her,’ she said. ‘He went over to her and he put his arm up against her chest, pushing her forcefully against the headboard of the bed.
‘He grabbed her throat and put his fist to her chin, shouting at her “you f***ing stupid b****, what are you doing? Why do you do this?”‘
The court heard he left the room, but Ms Burgess realised she had no way to escape the house.
He returned and pulled her to the end of the bed, so she was face down on her knees.
Ms Magill continued: ‘He started to push down with his entire bodyweight on her head.
‘She started to scream. She tried to tell him that he was killing her but she couldn’t speak.
‘She will tell you that she felt like it was cracking her skeleton. She was right – he was breaking her neck.
‘She heard a crack and all feeling left her body. She felt other parts of her body crack and go numb. She thought she was dying.
‘He did not stop. He was shouting, “Shut the f*** up. I will shut you up”‘.
Ms Burgess told Easom she could not feel her limbs, but at first he didn’t believe her.
Eventually, he called 999 and told the operator Ms Burgess had fallen out of bed while they were ‘mollycoddling’.
Ms Burgess was taken to hospital and CT scans confirmed her neck had been broken and she would never walk again.
Ms Magill told the jury they would hear from an expert orthopaedic surgeon who examined the scans and who will say such an injury could only be caused if a patient had fallen between 15ft to 20ft, and not from the height of a bed.
The barrister added: ‘You will be given the medical definitions of what has happened to Ms Burgess and she will tell you herself.
‘She is paralysed from the chest down and is in constant pain.
‘She describes it as being as if she is in a suit of armour that is two sizes too small. She can lift her arms using her shoulders but she cannot move her fingers.
‘She requires help to drink, she cannot perform simple everyday bodily functions such as coughing, she requires healthcare professionals to assist her. She requires round-the-clock care from a team of specialists.
‘However, cognitively, in her mind, there is no impairment. She is as articulate and sound of mind as she was prior to this happening.’
Ms Magill said after the assault, Easom lied in a phone call to Ms Burgess’s shocked sister, telling her the couple had simply been having ‘a bit of bloody fun’.
‘It’s just a horrible frolic that’s gone horribly and accidentally wrong and no one feels worse about it than me,’ he told her.
However, Easom was arrested and told police in a prepared statement that he would never do anything intentionally to hurt Ms Burgess.
‘I love Trudi more than life itself,’ he said.
The trial continues.
