A CHEATING husband bludgeoned his wife to death at their home near Pershore – then went Christmas shopping with his mistress, a jury was told.

Jonathan Palmer used a heavy object to cause multiple fractures of the victim’s skull, it was alleged.

He staged a burglary to make police believe that 57-year-old Melinda Palmer was killed by an intruder, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Palmer then drove to his lover’s home in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, where he went shopping with Jackie Marshall, a single mother, and her daughter Amy.

Later he drove back to Pershore and dialled 999 at 8.27pm, telling police he had found his wife dead in the front hall.

Prosecutor Stephen Linehan QC said: "He was cheating on her, conducting an affair with another woman. He is a skilled, determined and prolific liar and he put those skills to work after the killing."

Mr Linehan said Palmer killed his wife in a rear hallway - but moved the body to a front hall to hide it from any visitor.

Police never found a trail of blood. Instead, a piece of cling film was found in one of the victim’s head wounds. The QC said it could have come from the same roll of film found covering a chicken in the couple’s fridge.

Mr Linehan said a burglar would never have moved a body. There was no point. He would have fled the house immediately if he had killed someone.

Palmer, a 52-year-old retired salesman, of Windy Ridge, Crabbe Lane, Wadborough, denies murder on December 22 last year.

The defendant and his wife had been married 26 years but had no children, the jury heard.

They moved to Wadborough from Solihull in May 2009 to spend their retirement.

Palmer met Miss Marshall a few months before his wife’s death and told her he was a single man and was going to propose marriage to her, it was alleged.

He kept a secret phone to communicate with her. The lovers sent hundreds of text messages to each other, said Mr Linehan.

They met on Thursdays and had sex, Palmer telling his wife he was playing snooker at a club in Leicester where he had previously lived.

On the day of his wife’s death, Palmer sent Miss Marshall a text saying: "Good morning angel I love you".

The couple later went shopping in Worsksop in his Land Rover Discovery. Miss Marshall noticed bin liners in the boot, which could have contained his blood-soaked clothing and the murder weapon, said Mr Linehan.

He threw his phone out of the window on a motorway, but police found a memory chip on the car floor and were able to retrieve some messages.

Police arrived at Palmer’s home to find drawers pulled out and Palmer in a distraught state.

But they were immediately suspicious and arrested him straight away.

Forensic investigators found Palmer’s bloodstained fingerprints at his home. The prosecution allege they were left when he moved the body. He claimed he gave his dead wife a hug.

The trial continues.