Fifty-two-year old Robert Triggs has been charged with the murder of Susan Nicholson, 52, in 2011, and manslaughter of Caroline Devlin, 35, in 2006, the BBC reports.
The Park Crescent man told the court that he had accidentally rolled on top of Ms Nicholson when he was asleep at the time. However, he failed to call emergency services and left the house to buy cigarettes, with the hope she would be awake when he returned.
According to The Telegraph, Ms Delvin's body was discovered by her children on Mother's Day in 2006. The young children had walked into her bedroom to ask her what she wanted for breakfast. A post-mortem recorded Ms Devlin's death as due to aneurysm, although there was "no physical finding" to support that conclusion.
According to The Guardian, Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court there were "significant similarities" between the two women's death.
The prosecutor argued that both women were treated violently by Mr Trigg.
"Inquiries have revealed that the defendant has a history of behaviour towards other women with whom he has been in a relationship that shows him to have behaved in a possessive, controlling and jealous way," he said.
Pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary re-examined both causes of death and concluded that Ms Nicholson had suffocated after having her head forced into the bed. He also told the court that Ms Devlin’s death was caused by a blow to the back of her head.
Trigg denies the manslaughter and murder.
This article first published on Marie Claire.
