Murder accused Maureen Rickards’ chaotic bedroom is said to have “smelt of death” moments before her husband’s decomposing body was found stuffed in a holdall in her garden.

Jurors heard officers went to her Canterbury home on July 11 last year as part of their investigation into the disappearance of geologist Jeremy Rickards who had not been seen or heard from for a month.

Inquiries had revealed that in the days he was reportedly 'missing', his 50-year-old wife used his bank cards at shops and so a decision had been made to arrest her on suspicion of fraud.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard on Thursday how, when officers arrived at her address in St Martin's Road, her cluttered and chaotic room - said to have "smelt of death" - was subsequently searched before PCs Mark Bramwell and Nick Mayo ventured outside.

When investigating overgrown foliage at the bottom of the garden a large bag was discovered hidden under a pile of grass cuttings - and the officers were greeted by what one said was an "indescribable but unforgettable" odour.

Inside the zipped-up nylon weave holdall and covered with plastic sacks, 65-year-old Mr Rickards was lying in a foetal position dressed in just underwear.

Despite being in an advanced state of decomposition, a post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered five "definite" stab wounds to his chest, two of which were 11cm deep and had penetrated his heart.

He also had numerous fractures to his ribs and neck, including "old healed" ones that had occurred up to 10 weeks before his death.

It is alleged he was murdered by his wife, from whom he was said to be separated, after suffering earlier episodes of violence at her hands.

Today, audio of Rickards threatening to kill her husband just hours before she allegedly murdered him was played to the jury.

In one recording, Mr Rickards could be heard pleading “please stop hitting me, love. Please stop, stop hitting me”.

The court heard on the day his body was discovered, PCs Bramwell and Mayo had arrived at the multi-occupancy, student accommodation property just before noon.

Mr Rickards had been reported missing six days earlier by worried family. Subsequent police checks revealed that between June 20 and June 30, his wife had made several purchases with his bank cards, including carpet shampoo and air freshener.

Giving evidence, PC Bramwell told jurors he and his colleague had been tasked with going to her home to look for any evidence that related to Mr Rickards' bank accounts.

"I knocked at the door, the lady has come to the door, I've asked if she was Maureen Rickards and she said 'No'," he explained.

Once inside, PC Bramwell said he asked the woman, who would not identify herself, about 'Maureen'.

"She said 'Why do you want to speak to her?' She became evasive, saying she didn't like Kent Police."

The court heard Rickards, herself a student with hopes of a law career, then asked to go to the toilet.

Having allowed her to do so, PC Mayo called a number attributed to her and heard it ringing from the upstairs lavatory.

PC Mayo told the court: "When confronted with this information about her phone ringing she confirmed she was Mrs Maureen Rickards."

Rickards was then said to have become "very animated and agitated" when talking about her husband and his possible whereabouts.

She said she had last seen him when he came home "drunk or having been beaten up" at his local Wetherspoon pub.

It was only after Rickards had been arrested on suspicion of fraud and taken into custody that the search of the terraced house began.

At the time, she was the only resident, with all the tenants having been given prior notice to leave so the property could be refurbished.

But her room was still cluttered with clothing, furniture, laundry, and cooking equipment.

PC Mayo told the court when his colleague commented "It smells like death in here" he attributed it to two chicken breasts left out on a plate. The heating was also on.

They then went into the garden where they saw a 3ft high gap created in the foliage, a large heap of grass cuttings and "hundreds of maggots crawling around", he explained.

Using a broom to sweep away the grass, the large holdall was revealed and then pulled out by PC Bramwell.

The smell was "extreme" and "overwhelming", said the officers and, with more than two decades of service each with Kent Police, they recognised it as being associated with a dead body.

"The best way for me to describe it is indescribable but unforgettable," PC Mayo added.

Referring to the moment they opened the bag, he said: "It was all I could do to be honest not to be sick at that point."

A third officer, PC Martyn Bowes, provided assistance to his two colleagues at the scene.

He told the court: "I opened the bag and even though I suspected a body in there, it could have been a dog. It had to be ascertained what was in there.

"What I saw was very, very disturbing. It was a body of a person."

The court heard police had first contacted Rickards as part of their missing person enquiries on July 7, and then visited the property that same day after carrying out passport and hospital checks.

PC Byzid Al-Mahmood described her as sounding "distracted and slightly confused" in his call, and then becoming "quite agitated" when she claimed her husband had given £15,000 to her daughter, Chima.

The officer told the court Rickards said she had last seen her husband about four weeks earlier after they had been on holiday to the Caribbean island of Grenada.

She also mentioned him having employment in Saudi Arabia and visiting his brother in Middlesbrough, and that he would "sporadically" stay at her home.

Her husband, she said, was someone who regularly drank "excessive amounts of alcohol" and suffered from depression.

Once at the St. Martin's Road address a few hours later, PC Al-Mahmood told the court Rickards "went off on tangents" during their conversation and appeared physically "quite frail" with a walking stick.

In her room on the top floor she gave the officer a photo of her husband and then complained of feeling unwell.

The officer then left the property, having not gone into the garden during his half-hour visit.

When it was suggested to PCs Bramwell, Mayo and Al-Mahmood by Rickards’ barrister Ian Henderson KC that their accounts of their engagements with her were inaccurate, they all disagreed.

It is alleged that having fatally stabbed her husband, Rickards stored his bleeding body in a cupboard in her loft room before transferring him into the holdall and moving the bag down two flights of stairs into the garden.

Today, several recordings were played to the jury, including video footage, found on her phone following her arrest.

They showed Mr Rickards, often in a dishevelled and confused state, as he is berated by his wife in the approximate five-week period before his last known sighting on June 7 last year.

In the final of four clips totalling approximately 15 minutes and all marked with that same date stamp, Mr Rickards can be heard crying out in pain as he is hit, asking to go to hospital and saying "I want to go".

But Rickards can be heard to respond with "Give me five minutes. I will kill you".

A few moments later, her husband pleads: "Please stop hitting me, love. Please stop, stop hitting me."

It was the following day - June 8 - that Mr Rickards was last heard from when he rang EE customer services to top up credit on his phone.

The prosecution alleged at the start of the trial that the recordings made by the accused are evidence of the abuse she subjected her husband to and which became "more severe" over his final few days alive.

One dated May 12 and lasting just over two minutes showed Mr Rickards lying on the floor, in a state of undress, and struggling to get up.

His wife can be heard aggressively and repeatedly ordering him to leave her home, saying: "Get this man out of my life. Get out, get out of my home. You will leave my home. Get up.

"See the state of him. This is what I woke up to. Look at the state of him. He cannot get up. I don't understand. Is he drunk?

"I'm done with this marriage. Somebody come take this man to rehab.

"Get up Jeremy and leave my life. Get out of my property....Enough is enough."

In another, dated June 3, Rickards can be heard asking her husband why he is "punishing" her, which he refutes, before she accuses him of "depriving" her of her university education and degree.

At one point when asked why he is falling down, Mr Rickards can be heard to reply "Too much beer".

She also accuses him of putting her "through hell", and later in the first of the four videos played to the jury and dated June 7 she mentions wanting a divorce.

As she repeatedly refers to her husband as "British boy", he can be seen sitting in a chair in her room but does not appear to answer.

However, in the last clip, which is predominantly audio, Mr Rickards can be heard exclaiming: "Get me to the hospital. I just want to go", to which he is told by Rickards "You are not going".

There are then cries of pain, followed by the alleged threat to kill him.

The court also heard today from a neighbour who noticed a "strange, unpleasant" odour while preparing her garden for a family event on June 14.

Oksana Kandaurova, who lived next door but one to Rickards, said it was a few days before that date that she smelt something "not like anything else".

"It wasn't like smell from rubbish or from animal corpse," she told the jury. "It was the first time I had smelt such a smell."

Asked by prosecutor Nick Corsellis KC how strong the odour was, Ms Kandaurova replied: "I cannot understand how to describe it. I don't know....Just a very unpleasant smell."

Under cross-examination by Rickards' barrister, the neighbour told the court that when the planned family gathering went ahead, their guests could also detect the odour.

A fellow housemate told jurors of the night he heard the sound of "banging or dragging" down the stairs, shortly after it is alleged Mr Rickards was last seen or heard from.

Daniel Matcham recalled what he described as a "dun, dun, dun" noise leading from Rickards' room and down two flights of stairs.

The 33-year-old said when he looked outside a few minutes later, Rickards was standing in the middle of the garden looking up at the sky.

Asked by the prosecutor about the incident, Mr Matcham said: "I can recall that quite vividly. I was awake. It sounded like a dun, dun, dun, dun.

"I remember thinking 'This is strange. Why is there a noise coming down the stairs at this time?'

"It sounded like someone was maybe moving furniture, like dragging downstairs. It came from upstairs to downstairs."

Mr Matcham said that after a few minutes, he looked outside from his first-floor room, which was below Rickards' loft room.

"I remember thinking it was a bit weird, someone standing in the garden around 4, 3.30 in the morning," he told the court.

The music production student could not be sure when he heard the sound but said it was after he had last seen Mr Rickards on June 6.

On that occasion, he described him as looking "dishevelled, frail and in a terrible state" with "two badly bruised black eyes, cauliflower ears and a large gash to the top of his head".

He added the "bumping" sounds also post-dated the occasion when he had heard Mr Rickards "crying or whimpering" from pain as his wife showered him.

Mr Matcham, who was himself later arrested on suspicion of murder but released with no further action taken, said he believed Rickards was "domestically violent" to her husband.

"I heard her shouting and him crying. I saw him with black eyes. I put two and two together," he told the court, before later adding: "I heard her constantly shouting and him like whimpering/crying.

"I was concerned about it. I feel now maybe I should have said something about it but I didn't."

Mr Matcham told the jury Mr Rickards did not tell him how he had received his injuries, other than mentioning his wife and remarking "She's horrible to me and horrible to everyone".

He repeatedly denied any suggestion by Rickards' legal team that he was responsible for or involved in either Mr Rickards' death or the hiding of his body.

Mr Matcham agreed he was "not always the best housemate" with him playing loud music, going on "two-day benders" and having friends in his room.

He also said Rickards had spoken to him about his behaviour and complained on four occasions to the landlord.

But he disputed that he was lying about her beating her husband.

Asked about the banging noises, he said: "You don't want to think it's a body. I just thought it was weird.

"There was a pulling or moving of an object. But why would you move furniture at 3.30, 4am?

"I saw her standing in the middle of the garden and she was looking up. I remember thinking at the time 'God, that is f***ing weird'."

The court heard Mr Matcham later told police in his statement that he thought Mr Rickards had "just run off".

But giving evidence he said he could not recall saying that or what he had meant by it, adding that he had no reason to think that had happened.

On being arrested himself the day after the body was found, Mr Matcham told officers "I haven't done anything, it was Maureen".

Asked why he had made that comment, he told the jury that he was "shocked and flustered".

"There was a missing person case and you just think the worst," he added. "The fact I knew there was domestic violence going on, that was my conclusion.

"I was in shock when they arrested me."

The prosecutor then asked who in the multi-occupancy house had "a problem" with Mr Rickards", to which Mr Matcham replied: "No one, nobody did. Nobody had a problem with him.

"I didn't really know the man. I thought he was a sweet guy. I heard Maureen shouting at him. I thought he was a lovely guy, sweet. A really nice man."

Rickards denies murder between June 7 and July 11, and the trial continues.