Blood traces in a couple's home indicate a "violent struggle" before one ended up dead, lawyers claim.

Nigel Jackson stands accused of murdering his common-law wife Brenda Davidson, 72, in the Algarve home they shared.

Former Gravesend taxi driver Jackson has previously admitted burying her body.

The ongoing court case has revealed evidence from the prosecution to suggest he bludgeoned the mum-of-four from Cliffe Woods, Medway, to death before stabbing her in the face and neck so he could move in with his lover.

Yesterday, the prosecution summed up its case against the 60-year-old.

According to local news site Algarve Daily News, the lawyers rubbished Jackson’s claim that Brenda was dead, having killed herself, when he got home one day - as this does not match up with the blood traces in the couple’s living room indicating that there had been a violent struggle.

According to the site, the prosecution said Jackson's "grim determination to bury his wife in the garden and then concrete over the spot was "unthinkable," as was Jackson’s duplicity in saying to neighbours that his wife was in the UK seeking medical treatment for a "hacking cough".

Prosecutors claim "not even an animal" deserved to be treated with such a degree of "lack of care and respect".

The prosecutors have claimed that "not even an animal" deserved to be treated with such a "lack of care and respect".

This is the third hearing in the case, which started last autumn.

A panel of judges will make their decision on or before January 28 and Jackson will stay in custody until the verdict at least.

Jackson’s lawyer claims he is not guilty of murder, but guilty of concealing a body.

National news sources have previously reported that the property manager struck up a relationship with Vanesa Milheiro, 42, six months before Mrs Davidson's death.

It is also alleged he posed as Mrs Davidson by sending a string of messages to her son Dean to say she had left Jackson and was going travelling in Europe and America with a new partner, called Erik.

Jackson told the court in Portimao on a previous appearance that his wife, who had undergone surgery for cancer, may have taken her own life.

Jackson also claimed he couldn’t remember the date of Mrs Davidson’s death but said: "I know Lewis Hamilton became world champion on that weekend".

State prosecutors maintain the burial was a deliberate attempt to cover up Mrs Davidson’s death so that Jackson could live off her wealth.

Jackson is charged with making fraudulent payments with her bank cards, selling off her jewellery and using Tippex to delete her name from the deeds of the property she owned and replace it with his.

When asked if the wounds on Brenda’s body could be the result of suicide, police chief Carlos Pimenta said it was “impossible”.