Former Tory councillor accused of crushing wife to death after ‘over Brexit television row’

A former Conservative councillor accused of crushing his wife to death with the family Mercedes in southwestern France had “just had a row over Brexit television programme" before the fatal incident, a court has heard.

David Turtle was charged with aggravated manslaughter in April 2017 for crushing his wife Stephanie outside their home with his £37,000 Mercedes E-Class, a two-ton car which she had jokingly complained in her blog received more affection than she did.

Police said one theory was that she lay down to prevent him driving away after a marital dispute but that he ploughed into her regardless. A second was that she received a blow to the head during the row and was placed unconscious in front of the Mercedes.

He denies the accusations, insisting her death was a tragic accident. He argued he didn't know she had been hit because it was dark and the suspension was so good in the car that he did not feel a thing.

Mr Turtle, 67, had quit his job as a Mercedes dealer and resigned as a Conservative councillor in Bournemouth’s Kinson North ward, and his wife, 50 at the time of death, left the human resources department of Dorset council in 2016 as they moved to Prayssac to run a bed and breakfast.

But gendarmes were called to La Maison Cedre – The Cedar House – at around 2am on 30 March 2017 to deal with what was described as a “domestic accident”. An autopsy found Stephanie Turtle’s rib cage had been crushed, she had sustained massive internal injuries and had been suffocated by the weight of the car.

According to the indictment read out in court on Wednesday, Mr Turtle said that after dinner on the night of her death, the pair had rowed over what television programme to watch.

He “wanted to follow a programme on Brexit, which wasn’t to his wife’s taste,” according to the indictment relayed by local news website Actu Lot.

Returning to the issue on Thursday, Mr Turtle said that after the Brexit programme, the row started properly over his next choice, Top Chef. She insisted, on the other hand, she wanted to watch a programme on nurses in India.

‘Significantly engaged the accelerator’

Mr Turtle then “threw the remote control on the sofa and disappeared into his office”. His wife went to bed, he told the court, but the row resumed when she came down from the bedroom around midnight and he decided to go for a drive to avoid further confrontation.

He said he heard her follow him at one point, started up the engine, got out of the car and seeing no sign of his wife, got back in and drove “for a few metres” only to change his mind because he “didn’t want to move”.

He said he had no idea he had hit his wife until he opened the car door and saw her “hand sticking out from under the car”.

A forensic report confirmed Stephanie Turtle had been standing in front of the Mercedes when she was run over, with experts suggesting the car had accelerated massively. Her husband had “significantly engaged the accelerator pedal”, the report concluded. Tyre marks in the gravel confirmed the vehicle had set off at considerable speed.

“He cannot answer the question why he did not see or hear his wife and has never been able to answer it,” the indictment said.

However, in court, the coroner was insistent that Mrs Turtle had not been run over by the car’s tyres and experts disagreed on where she was positioned.

Mr Turtle told the judge that when he saw his wife trapped, he instantly put the keys back in the ignition to activate the Mercedes’ hydraulic suspension in the hope this would free Mrs Turtle, to no avail. When further attempts to move the car failed, he phoned the police.

Laurent Bruneau, Mr Turtle’s lawyer, said: “This was a couple who loved each other and had done so for a long time.

“David Turtle has repeatedly said it was an accident. At no moment did he see [his wife] when he started the car and he only discovered afterwards she was under it. He had no intention of killing his wife and no motive.

“There is no proof of criminal intent. It was an accident.”

However, Major Alain Chauvin, a former police officer who headed the investigation before his retirement, told the court that none of the witnesses questioned in connection with the death believed it was accidental. He said Mr Turtle’s wife could not have got in front of the car without him seeing her.

The officer added that Mr Turtle’s explanations were “incoherent” and said that it was “very difficult to determine if what he says is true”.

Edouard Martial, a defence lawyer, contested the officer’s evidence, saying: “You don’t know anything. There is nothing that leads us to lean either towards the theory that it was accidental or towards the theory that it was a deliberate act.”

‘She is mollycoddled’

Mr Turtle lavished his car with near-obsessive attention, his wife had complained on her blog.

“I have come to question if I might have slipped from the number one spot of Mr T's affections … [Our] new Mercedes Benz E-class estate is clearly Mr T's pride and joy,” she wrote.

“She has had more attention lavished on her than most anything else since we arrived in France, with weekly cleans and touches up in between…

“She is mollycoddled. For example, she can't be parked within 20 feet of any painting activity. When leaving home, a physical check for traffic in our quiet country lane is required – I have to actually get out of the car.

“We approach junctions with the utmost caution, both of us straining our necks to check for oncoming traffic and chanting 'all clear my way'. No eating or drinking is allowed in the car lest we get greasy or sticky marks on her leather interior. The list goes on…”

Catherine Goupil, a psychological profiler, told the court that Mr Turtle had received 140 letters of support from friends who couldn’t understand how he could be accused of murder. She said the couple had “a rather fusional relationship”.

Mr Turtle said he had been “sad” to end his role as councillor but had chosen to give priority to his couple and their new life in France. “My priority in my life has always been Stephanie,” he told the court.

The couple had met in Turkey on a holiday for single people in 1996 and had no children.

“I loved my wife and I love her even more now than before because my heart is broken after what happened,” he said. “Stephanie was the love of my life. It took me 40 years to find her,” he added.

The trial continues.