A wealthy businessman has gone on trial for the murder of his wife who vanished without trace almost a decade ago.

Maureen Hale's body has never been found, no-one has reported a sighting of her and her bank accounts and credit cards have never been used.

A jury at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard that her husband Martin Hale, 51, denies murdering her and disposing of her body.

But the court heard that Mr Hale had "an unfortunate habit" of making notes and lists for himself which appeared to suggest that he had been wrestling with the problem of hiding her body.

One note, found in his briefcase, read: "1. at sea 2. by fire 3. by acid 4. land site".

In July 1999, a month after Mrs Hale, 42, went missing, Mr Hale is alleged to have visited a pet cemetery run by a friend of his and inquired whether he could pay £20,000 to hire a crematorium oven.

Crispin Aylett, QC, for the prosecution, said: "He had a body on his hands that he wanted to dispose of."

Mr and Mrs Hale met in 1983, married and had four children. Her son by her first marriage also lived with them in a large four-bedroomed detached house in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and was formally adopted by Mr Hale.

But by 1998 the marriage was under severe strain. Mr Aylett said that Mrs Hale considered her husband, who ran a fruit and vegetable wholesale business, to be a workaholic who was drinking heavily. She felt "neglected" and "started to look elsewhere for affection".

She flirted with a plumber who had done some work in the family home and invited him for a drink. But he neglected her advances and Mrs Hale then turned to Andrew Horton, 28, a gardener. She slept with him on four occasions in the months before she disappeared.

Mrs Hale had also filed for divorce on the grounds of her husband's "unreasonable behaviour" but her husband was determined to contest the action.

In another note found by police, Mr Hale had written: "Now Mo says she doesn't love me, but she would like to keep the £300,000 house, all the children and an income to keep her and the children in the style to which she has become accustomed, ie, nice car, money, no job, friends to visit and have coffee with".

In August 1998 the couple had a fight which led to Mrs Hale going to her doctor with bruises and a thick lip. Mr Hale moved out of the family home but returned the following Christmas. His wife was unhappy about his return and recorded his drunkenness in her Good Housekeeping pocket diary.

Mr Aylett said the collapse of the marriage reached a climax on June 22 1999 when Mr Hale returned from a bar and had a blazing row with his wife. He told the jurors they would hear evidence that she had confided in friends that she wanted to provoke a fight in order to get a court order to exclude him from the house.

Mr Aylett added: "The prosecution alleges that when he got back from drinking on that Tuesday evening he and his wife argued. In the course of that fight, he killed her."

No charges were brought against Mr Hale in 1999 but a review of the case by a new team of detectives last year led to murder charges being pressed last year.

Mr Aylett said: "The prosecution don't know how he killed her nor do we know where her body is. That does not, however, mean that he cannot be guilty of murder."

The trial continues.

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• All that glitters is not sold in Wright’s world
• Believe it or not, Big Brother is your friend