Jasvir Ginday 'killed wife to hide sexuality'

A gay bank worker who wanted to hide his sexuality strangled his wife and burnt her body months after marrying her, a court has heard.

Jasvir Ram Ginday is alleged to have attacked Varkha Rani at their home with a metal pipe from a vacuum cleaner.

He burnt her body in a garden incinerator but told a neighbour he had set fire to "general rubbish", Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Mr Ginday, 29, of Walsall, admits manslaughter but denies murder.

'Ultimate intention'

The court heard Mrs Rani, 24, married Mr Ginday in India in March last year and moved to the UK to live with him in August after being granted a visa.

But he had told a friend he was attracted to men as early as 2008, said prosecutor Deborah Gould.

Miss Gould said about a month before Mrs Rani's death on 12 September last year, someone at the family home made an internet search for incinerators.

Mr Ginday initially told police his wife had walked out on him after using him to gain entry to the UK.

Miss Gould said: "His ultimate intention, the Crown suggests, was to play the role of victim, safe in the knowledge that he could rely upon his married status as a permanent excuse for never having to have another relationship with a woman."

As well as manslaughter, Mr Ginday has admitted perverting the course of justice by lying to police.

The trial continues.