A Queensland man on trial for his wife’s murder denies murdering her but admits interfering with her corpse.

February 4, 2019

A Queensland man accused of murdering his wife and interfering with her corpse more than a decade ago has denied killing her but admitted tampering with her dead body.

Edmund Ian Riggs told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday he did not murder Patricia Anne Riggs on September 30, 2001, at their home in Margate.

But Riggs, 60, pleaded guilty at his trial to misconduct with his wife’s corpse by interfering. He will be sentenced for that once the murder trial is over.

Ms Riggs, 34, disappeared after a weekend of arguments with her husband, crown prosecutor Todd Fuller QC told the jury in his opening address on Monday.

Riggs had told police in 2001 his wife had accused him of having an affair on the Friday night before walking out on the family later in the weekend.

However, an examination of the family’s home soon after found blood splatters on a bedroom wall.

That discovery prompted Riggs to board a Greyhound bus under an assumed name and disappear to Byron Bay for about 10 days, Mr Fuller told the trial on Monday.

Police investigations found Ms Riggs hadn’t accessed her bank accounts or shown up for work after her disappearance.

Despite this, no charges were laid until 2015 when the new occupant of the Margate home was digging in the backyard and discovered bones under a shed built-in 2001.

The incomplete skeleton was wrapped in a pool liner, Mr Fuller said.

A post-mortem examination found damage to the right cheekbone and part of the jaw bone missing, however, due to excessive weathering the cause of death was not clear.

The six-day trial continues.