Dad-of-two Andrew Booth, aged 44, who is accused of dosing wife Lorraine with anaesthetic before smothering her, told pub licensee Gary Jane the morning after her death: "I've got some bad news about Lorraine. She's lying in the morgue this morning."

Mr Jane told jurors at Sheffield Crown Court: "I was shocked. I just couldn't believe it, I thought it was a joke at first. He never actually told me she was dead, I just assumed from what he'd said that she was."

Mr Jane said later that day Mr Booth, of Tankersley Lane, Hoyland Common, told him he'd found his wife with her head stuck between the cushions on the settee.

"He told me he'd tried to revive her and the ambulance men had tried to revive her but they couldn't do anything for her.

"He looked shocked, pale and gaunt, not his usual self."

Jurors also heard from Dean Higgs, a regular at The Hare and Hounds pub where Mrs Booth worked, who admitted they'd had an affair.

He said they'd had a sexual relationship between 2003 and 2004 which ended because they both had too much to lose. Mr Higgs said Booth had confronted him about the relationship but he'd denied it.

They had slept together once more about two months before her death, he said.

Mr Higgs said Mrs Booth "detested her husband" adding: "She told me she was frightened of him."

Booth, who was head of biomedical sciences at the DRI, is accused of stealing a bottle of the anaesthetic Enflurane from the hospital and using it to knock out his wife before smothering her.

Jurors heard Booth tried to make out his wife was an alcoholic, but a post mortem examination found no signs of liver damage. The trial continues.

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