A woman allegedly burned to death by her husband had previously told her friend in tears: ‘He’s getting nasty’, a court has heard.

Mavis Bran, 69, suffered severe burns to 46% of her body after Geoffrey Bran, 71, allegedly pushed or threw one of three fryers over her inside their fish and chip shop.

She died from multi-organ failure in hospital six days after the alleged attack.

Gareth Davies, who lived with the couple, told Swansea Crown Court he had seen Mrs Bran return to the house naked from the waist up on October 23 last year, shouting: ‘I’ve been burned’ and ‘I’ve had boiling hot fat all over me’.

He described her upper body as ‘crimson’ and said her skin was peeling off her wrists.

Mr Bran told Mr Davies his wife had been cooking fish when she slipped and grabbed the fryer, causing it to spill over her body, the court heard.

But Caroline Morgan, a friend of Mrs Bran, said she had rang her at around 1.15pm and screamed: ‘Geoff has thrown boiling oil over me. Please get here, I need you now, help.’

Ms Morgan then rushed to the scene, where she described seeing her friend ‘shocked’ and ‘shaking’, while her husband still served customers.

She was allegedly told by Mrs Bran, about Mr Bran: ‘I was nagging him and he flipped.’

Mrs Bran was rushed to Morriston Hospital in Swansea by air ambulance, and later developed sepsis and hypothermia.

She underwent surgery to remove some of her burned skin, but later died from multiple organ failure.

Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC told the court that Mrs Bran was burned as a result of her husband ‘deliberately pushing or throwing over her a deep fat fryer which contained scalding oil’.

The couple had opened their shop, Chipoteria, in a cabin situated next to their home in the small West Wales village in January 2018.

However, friends close to the couple stated that financial pressures of their business had sometimes put a strain on their marriage.

Mr Lewis said the pair had been described as having ‘short tempers’ and were ‘always argued, swearing and shouting at each other’.

The prosecutor told the court that friends had noticed their relationship was ‘deteriorating’ before the incident, with Mrs Bran phoning one of them in tears saying ‘he’s getting nasty’.

Mr Bran, from Hermon, was initially arrested on suspicion of assault and denied attacking his wife.

He claims that his wife got ‘upset and agitated’ because a fryer in their van was dirty and became angry at him because four fish had been spoiled.

The defendant says Mrs Bran then threw the spoiled fish in a temper, causing hot fat to fly through the air, which then led her to pull the fryer unit down on top of herself.

He denies murder.

The trial continues.

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