11:46 DAY EIGHT
Insp McKie 'exercised his right to silence'
The trial has resumed and the jurors are hearing about the police interviews of Darren McKie after his arrest on suspicion of murder.
The court hears the defendant was interviewed on five occasions, the first time on September 29 and then on September 30.
He is said to have exercised his right to silence during the September 30 interview.The jurors hear he was interviewed a second time on September 30 when he handed police a prepared statement.
He was interviewed again on October 1 when he gave officers a second prepared statement and afterwards exercised his right to silence, the court is told.His final interview took place on October 2 when he gave police a third prepared statement and afterwards largely exercised his right to silence, the jurors are told.
11:47
'What can you tell me about the death of your wife?'
An audio recording of Insp McKie’s first police interview, which lasted 1hr and 40mins, is being played to the jury.
At the start of the interview, the interviewer Detective Constable Kevin Lee asked the suspect: “What can you tell me about the death of your wife?”
Insp McKie replied: “Nothing, nothing. Until officers arrived at the house this morning, I didn’t know she was dead.”
11:48
Insp McKie repeats that he did not know what happened to her
​Insp McKie repeated to the interviewer that he didn’t know what had happened to his wife and did not know the circumstances of her death.
The defendant, asked about his movements the day before his wife was found dead at Poynton Lake, said he had arrived for work at Stretford police station shortly before 7am. He said he arrived back at home at about 12.30pm or 1pm to show a surveyor, who was valuing the family property, around the home. The surveyor left and he spent the afternoon picking up his children, Insp McKie told the interviewing officer.
During the evening, he said he became concerned his wife, who was working a 3pm to 11pm shift at GMP, had not contacted him. “I was getting worried now. It was unusual,” Insp McKie said during the interview.
11:49
'I was panicking then'
Insp Mckie said midnight ‘came and went’ and added: “I was panicking then.” “I just thought I would go and look for her,” he said. He told the interviewer he had had some wine and so he could not drive. He described how he walked to the roundabout and past the high school but ‘didn’t see anything’. He said he ‘carried on walking’ and later turned around and walked back home. Insp McKie admitted he ‘panicked’ when he saw police officers on his return as he had ‘three kids at home’.
12:06
Insp McKie said he took off his trainers because they were 'rubbing'
Insp McKie described how the officers who stopped him asked him what he was doing but was able to continue on his way home.
He said his heel was ‘rubbing’ and he removed his trainers.
“I don’t know why. I threw them in the bin. I was frustrated with myself and the situation,” he said during the interview.
The officer described being stopped by police a second time that night when they saw him walking along Moor Lane in Wilmslow without shoes on.
Insp McKie said he had been ‘frustrated’ and was ‘annoyed with myself’.
He described being driven home by the police officers and feeling ‘scared’.He said his ‘heart was racing’ because of what he had done and the fact his wife was missing.
12:07
He said he 'went to check if knock on door was his wife'
Insp McKie described going to bed later in the evening.
“I went to bed and fell asleep and at some point I was aware of banging on the door,” he said.
He said he went to check whether it was his wife but realised it was police officers.
“Their attitude was different that time,” said Insp McKie.
The trial has previously heard how Leanne McKie’s body was found face down in Poynton Lake at about 3.35am on September 29 and that the officers who had twice stopped Insp McKie then returned to his home.
“I was asking them what was going on and they weren’t replying or telling me,” Insp McKie said during his police interview.
Later he said: “It didn’t really register when they arrested me for murder.”
12:09
'The move to Burford Close had been stressful'
Insp McKie told the interviewers he had been a police officer for 13 years and was an inspector based at Stretford police station.
He described two meetings he attended after he arrived at work on September 28 and told the interviewers that ‘nothing major happened’ at work that day.
He said he received a few texts from his wife and also had a few missed calls from her.
Insp McKie described how their home on Burford Close in Wilmslow had been purchased in February of last year.
The family had been living in a rented property nearby and the move to Burford Close had been ‘stressful’, admitted Insp McKie.
12:10
Insp McKie says he sent his wife a text at 4.30pm
Insp McKie said ‘people knew’ he was leaving work early on September 28 and that his boss was ‘quite flexible’.
He said nobody else was in the family home when he arrived and he recalled sending his wife a text at 4.30pm saying ‘what’s going on?’
He confirmed his wife, who worked part-time at GMP, would leave for work at 2pm to begin her shift at at 3pm.
“It has happened before but it was unusual not to get a text,” Insp McKie told the interviewing officers.
Insp McKie admitted he had drunk some red wine but said he was in charge of all his faculties.
Asked how much he drank generally, he replied: “I probably drink more than the doctor says I should drink but moving house was quite stressful.”
12:11
Insp McKie is asked why he went to look for his wife
Asked why had gone out to look for his wife, Insp McKie said: “I was worried. I just decided to be proactive and do something.”
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