The owner of a small fish and chip shop in rural Carmarthenshire burned his wife to death by pouring boiling cooking oil over her, a jury has heard.

Geoffrey Bran, aged 71, is charged with murdering Mavis Bran, 69, who died from her injuries on 29 October 2018, five days after an incident at the Chipoteria in the small village of Hermon, between Newcastle Emlyn and Carmarthen.

Paul Lewis, prosecuting, told a jury at Swansea Crown Court that Bran had either deliberately pushed or thrown over her a deep fat fryer containing boiling oil.

“The terrible burns suffered by Mrs Bran were not the result of an accident,” he added.

He said the couple had been married for 30 years and owned a number of small commercial properties and businesses. They opened their latest venture, the Chipoteria, in January 2018.

“It would appear that the financial pressures of their various businesses would at times put a strain on their relationship and they would sometimes argue about money," he said.

“They are described by people who knew them as a couple who both had short tempers who always argued, swearing and shouting at each other.”

In the months before the death, a friend, Caroline Morgan, thought the relationship was deteriorating. Mrs Bran told her her husband was “getting nasty” and she said she was scared of him.

The couple opened the chip shop in a cabin on land next to their home.

At 12.43pm a customer, Guto Jones, telephoned the Chipoteria and placed an order with Mrs Bran, who appeared to be in a happy mood, the jury heard.

A short while later, friend Gareth Davies, who was staying with the Brans, heard Mrs Bran come into the house and call for him.

“She was naked above the waist and her upper body was crimson,” said Mr Lewis. “She was obviously in pain, shouting and screaming ‘I’ve been burnt, I’ve had hot boiling fat all over me’.

“It was clear to Mr Davies that even at that stage her skin was coming off her wrists.”

Despite her injuries Mrs Bran told Mr Davies he needed to help out and to cook some fish for customers, which he did.

When he entered the cabin he saw “lots of fat on the floor by the cooking area”.

Meanwhile, Mr Jones arrived to collect his order and spoke to Bran, who told him there had been “a bit of an accident”.

When asked how the fryer had fallen on his wife, Bran said: “I don’t know how it happened. It must have slid on the table. She must have caught it on something.”

Mr Davies also asked Bran what had happened. He said she had been cooking in the cabin and had slipped and grabbed the fryer, causing the fat to come out of the holder and onto her.

Mr Lewis said while this was going on Mrs Bran telephoned her friend Mrs Morgan and said to her, “Geoff has thrown boiling oil over me. Please help me, emergency, emergency.”

On arriving she told Mr Davies to call for an ambulance. While waiting for it to arrive Bran allegedly asked her to cook fish for customers who had just arrived.

“Unlike the defendant, Mrs Morgan was concerned for Mrs Bran and not about the customers. She told him to shut the place down,” said the prosecutor.

The trial continues and is expected to last two weeks.

“He shook his head when told of an allegation of assault,” added Mr Lewis, but later said, “it’s one of those things, it happened in seconds, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

During police interviews Bran said his wife would cook the fish in a van and he cooked the chips in the cabin.

On the day of the incident she complained the cooking oil was not clean enough and began cooking the fish in the cabin before returning to the van. When she went back she accused Bran of burning the fish.

She removed the fish and, said Bran, within seconds she “was flying back onto the floor”.

Bran said he thought that, in a bid to save herself, she got hold of the fryer and pulled it over herself.

Mr Lewis told the jury: “Whether Mrs Bran suffered her burns accidentally, or whether they were caused by the defendant deliberately throwing hot oil over her, is the central issue you will have to decide in this case.

“Mrs Bran and the defendant were alone in the Chipoteria when she was burned. There were no witnesses to what occurred and there is no CCTV to help you.

“If however Mrs Bran had merely suffered a terrible accident and had pulled the fat fryer over onto herself in falling then you will wish to ask why, within minutes, Mrs Bran was telling Caroline Morgan over the phone that the defendant had thrown a hot chip fryer full of oil over her."

“The prosecution case is that Mrs Bran was telling the truth,” he added.