Man 'acted alone' when wife died

A MAN serving a life sentence for murdering his wife and dumping her body in their cellar told a trial that he acted alone.

In court yesterday, Harry Jarvis, 61, said his wife Carol died in bed after a series of fits, just minutes after he brought her a drink of Ribena.

And he insisted another woman who was so "besotted" with him that she lived in his garden shed did not know Carol, 47, was dead - until police questioned her as a murder suspect.

Rita Heyster, 57, was cleared of murdering Carol Jarvis "by means unknown" on Friday when a judge at the High Court in Edinburgh ruled that there was not enough evidence.

She remains accused of helping Mr Jarvis hide his wife's body as part of a cover-up - an allegation which she denies.

Yesterday, Grimsby-born Mr Jarvis was called as a defence witness by Heyster's legal team and told how she was not in the house when his wife died. The trial continues.