Man on trial found dead at his home

8:44am Friday 11th January 2008

A HUSBAND on trial for allegedly carrying out an assault on his wife only 12 days after their wedding has been found dead at his home.

The trial of Douglas Tate was halted yesterday morning, only hours after the body of the 41- year-old was discovered at his home in Dene Park, Esh Winning, near Durham City.

The jury at Newcastle Crown Court was discharged at the start of the second day of the trial.

The court clerk said: "He died overnight. The jury has been discharged and the indictment has been discharged."

Mr Tate, a social services manager, pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he had assaulted his wife, Barbara Tate, while house-sitting at his mother's home in Durham City, in March last year.

The prosecution alleged on the first day of his trial that Mrs Tate woke to find her husband punching her in the head, pulling her hair, and calling her a whore.

She alleged the attack carried on into the living room, where Mrs Tate claimed her husband threatened to stab her with a kitchen knife. It was claimed she then fled barefoot into the street, dressed only in a nightgown, and was discovered sitting on the doorstep of a police station.

However, Mr Tate's barrister told the court that he acted in self defence after being attacked by his wife, who had consumed a bottle of vodka, as well as drinking cider.

At an earlier hearing in October, Durham Crown Court heard that the couple had a brief, but stormy relationship.

Mr Tate, a father-of-three from a previous marriage, was, at that time, serving a fourmonth prison sentence imposed for a drink-drive conviction in August, after he was found to be more than three times over the limit.

A spokesman for Durham Police said yesterday: "The body of a 41-year-old man was discovered at an address in Durham.

There are no suspicious circumstances and the coroner has been informed."