BREAKING NEWS 1PM: The jury has retired to consider its verdict.

Day 17: A MECHANIC on trial for helping murder a businessman's wife gave an "absurd" story in a bid to prove his innocence, it was alleged.
John Height (38) claims he was duped by Malcolm Anderson so that it appeared he played a part in the killing of Anderson's wife Anita.

The court has been told that she was battered with a saucepan and a hammer before being driven to a river, where she was repeatedly stabbed and dumped in the water.

The 52-year-old died last December. Unbeknown to her, her husband had pledged his future to a 26-year-old colleague at Norfolkline in Whittlesey.

He was so desperate to be with his lover that he allegedly plotted with Height, a mechanic on the same site, to "get rid" of his wife.

Anderson (54) of The Mill, Kirton, Lincolnshire, has admitted murdering his wife, but Height, of Driffield Way, Woodston, Peterborough, denies the offence.

It is alleged Height agreed to help kill Mrs Anderson in return for £20,000.

Height has told Nottingham Crown Court he was involved only in disposing of the body – and insisted Anderson tricked him into taking part.

But yesterday prosecutor Gregory Dickinson QC, in his closing speech, suggested Height's version of events was "incapable of belief".

Branding Height's story "woeful", he told the jury: "It is inconceivable that Anderson would take along someone who may raise the alarm.

"To suggest he would be able to do all this without Height noticing beggars belief. You can be sure that this defendant is guilty of murder."

He added: "It was a terrible performance in the witness box. He finished head down, barely protesting his innocence – resigned to his fate, I suggest."

But Height's barrister argued in his own closing speech that the case rested on the account of Anderson, who gave evidence for the prosecution.

Timothy Barnes QC, defending, said: "Anderson is, in our submission, a totally unreliable witness. He is devious, manipulative and self-seeking.

"If you are not convinced by his evidence then the other evidence will leave you far short of the degree of certainty required before you can convict."

The court has heard a fisherman found Mrs Anderson's body partially hidden beneath a tractor tyre in the River Welland just outside Crowland, near Peterborough.