A South Yorkshire scientist accused of the murder of his wife injected her wine with ethanol to make it appear as though she was drinking herself to death, a court has heard.
Andrew Booth, 44, made his wife Lorraine, 50, look like a "serious alcoholic" by spiking her drinks at home in Barnsley, a jury heard.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that he eventually killed her by knocking her out with anaesthetic and smothering he
r with a cushion.
Booth allegedly stole the bottle of enflurane anaesthetic from Doncaster Royal Infirmary where he worked as head of biomedical sciences.
The couple, who were married for 20 years and had two children, were in the process of a divorce settlement which could have left Mrs Booth with a £60,000 pay-off.
The court heard how Mrs Booth, a barmaid, became concerned when she "passed out" after a couple of glasses of wine at home.
Her stepsister, Katherine Sharp, who lived just yards from the pair in Tankersley Lane on Hoyland Common, told the jury: "When she was coming home from work, she would have a drink and there were times when she would pass out. She told me she felt that Andrew was tampering with the wine in the house."
Mrs Booth was found dead on the night of July 11 last year at the family home.
A post-mortem examination found no evidence of crime but after relatives took their concerns to the police, a second post mortem was carried out. This revealed signs of suffocation and traces of the anaesthetic but showed no signs of alcoholism.
The court heard how Booth told friends and relatives that his wife had a serious drinking problem and even presented a "drink diary" to her brother Charles Wyatt and father Bruce Wyatt. Both men told the court there was nothing to suggest she drank excessively.
The trial continues.
